Tethered from darkness
by HybridScates
Summary: When Finn is being shipped off to fight for his country, a merciless army of terrorists hijacks his ship looking for the secrets that lie beneath his country and kidnaps him. Word is that he's dead but Rachel feels otherwise and sets out to find him. Will she ever reunite with Finn again?
1. Shipped out

Tethered from darkness

When he first told Rachel about enlisting in the army she was bawling her eyes out, he felt like his world ripped in half when he left her at the train station. The other glee members stood around and waved but they never truly understood what it was like for him.

They were supposed to get married and move to New York together, but he wasn't good enough to get into the Actor's Studio and he couldn't bear to see Rachel deferring from her college to help him, when he knows he will never get in. So he enlisted in the army, somehow he felt that it was scarier to think about college and your future rather than getting shot.

So here he is, running with a heavy backpack on his shoulders through torrential rain. Boot camp has made him stronger and bulkier and could probably win Puck in a bench press competition. But he misses Rachel so effing much, he misses her touch, her voice and just her.

"MOVE IT SOLDIER!" the sergeant yells. Finn was one of the few men who actually made it through boot camp, he would lie in bed some nights to listen to the crying of his fellow soldiers talking about running away or the torture they go through everyday. But to be honest, he actually liked it: That's why he never felt tired during football practices; he just needed something to put his stamina to the test.

He finally crosses the red line and drops his backpack on the rock next to him, the sergeant moves towards him and claps his back.

"Good." He says and runs towards the slower soldiers. Finn wipes the sweat, dirt and rain off his face with the back of his uniform's sleeve. Then he stops and realises who the soldiers running towards him are. Shit.

'Bomber' and 'Hammer' come running pass the finish line; even in the army there are at least two people that give you a hard time. Bomber and Hammer walk towards Finn who stands up.

"Hey Finnessa." Bomber mocks and ruffles Finn's growing hair. Hammer then comes and hits Finn's shoulders with his own. Finn shakes his head and sees the other soldiers running towards him with the sergeant behind them.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL? GIRLS?" The sergeant yells once they get back to the barracks. All the soldiers tense up and look up at the sergeant with pleading eyes hoping they wont have to do it again, Finn leans on the metal poles attached to his bunk bed and fiddles with his dog tags, he thinks about Glee club, Rachel and his family, his first song he sang with the glee club and last. He knows Rachel is probably practicing for an audition now in NYADA-

"Hudson? You listening?" the sergeant yells and Finn looks up and lets go of his tags.

"I said, you're getting shipped off tomorrow. Write your letters soon to send to your loved ones before you leave." Finn frowns, what? Shipped off tomorrow? No way? He wasn't expecting it at all until a couple more weeks.

Finn quickly takes his notebook out and pen and starts his letter for his loved one. Rachel.

_Dear Rachel,_

_How are you doing? Training's alright because I have you in my mind as motivation. You're probably rehearsing for an audition but I know deep down you'll get it. You're a shining star Rachel and you always shine your brightest when you do something intimately important that defines you._

_Rachel, I love you._

_Love Finn._

Finn reads his letter and smiles before leaving to attend dinner. The only spots available are next to Bomber and Hammer because people rather eat food then write to their family and friends.

"Finish writing your essay to your girl?" Hammer asks as Finn sits next to them holding his tray. He ignores the thugs and eats his repetitive meal that he has eaten every dinnertime.

"He probably wrote her a poem or song." Bomber says and turns to look at Finn. Hammer starts to get annoyed by Finn ignoring them and pushes his head towards his salad getting sauce all over his face. Finn shoves Hammer's hands from his head and wipes his face with a tissue.

"Maybe you should send the tissue with your message too." Bomber says and laughs as he and Hammer walk out of the dining area.

Finn finishes and drops his letter in the box before packing his bag for tomorrow. The sergeant says they only have a couple of minutes to say goodbye before getting shipped off so every minute he spends with Rachel counts.

Hammer jumps into his bunk bed above Finn's and rolls around in it making annoying shrieking sounds in the bed, but Finn doesn't care: he is too busy looking at his picture of Rachel with the moonlight as the only light source in his compartment.

The alarm rings and Finn's already waiting for the military vehicles to take them to the dock.

Finn takes his Nationals Duffel bag with him, he had bought the bag in Chicago where they had won and became the most popular kids in school. He could still remember the Portland Scale Blazers coming in third place and the tense atmosphere between Vocal Adrenaline and New Directions when they waited for the victors to be called out…And Rachel. She was singing 'It's all coming back to me now.'

"Finnessa, time to go!" Hammer says and whacks Finn's head with his shoe before climbing onto the vehicle. Finn rubs his head and sits next to Pedro on the vehicle. Boy does he miss the New Directions.

The vehicles finally arrive at the dock and everyone hops out and hugs their family and friends. Finn looks everywhere for Rachel and his family, did they come?-

"Finn!" a shriek rings through the entire dock, Finn turns around to see Rachel running towards him along with his mum, Burt and Kurt. Finn drops his duffel bag and runs towards his love, Rachel embraces him and he kisses her.

"Finn, you look handsome!" Rachel says and returns the kiss. His mum runs her hand along his face and pulls him into a tight hug, Burt comes and shakes his hand and Kurt starts crying and hugging him.

"Can't believe they're shipping you so soon." Burt states

"Yeah, couldn't believe it myself." Finn replies still hugging Rachel.

"ONE MORE MINUTE!" The sergeant informs.

Rachel hugs Finn tighter, he could see her trying not to cry.

"I'll be safe, I promise. I love you all." Finn says and pulls his family into a tight hug before following his fellow soldiers towards the army ship. Finn turns back to see Rachel and Carole crying and waving back to him.

"It's hard isn't it?" Pedro says and walks beside Finn.

"Yeah, it is man." Finn replies thinking about Rachel and still feeling her on his waist.

They all board the ship and it undocks. Finn squints and he could still see his family waving at him.

"Please don't cry glee boy otherwise the whole ship with sink." Hammer says and pushes Finn's head down. He can't believe he's saying this but he misses Rick and Azimio, sure they were total dickheads but at least he didn't have to spend every minute of his life with them.

One hour since they left and people are already upchucking over the ship. Finn turns to look at the water and suddenly he sees another boat moving towards them, it is smaller but it seems there are many people on it.

"Sergeant?" Finn asks and the sergeant comes running towards him.

"Shit!" the sergeant yells looking at the oncoming boat.

"What's going on?"

"Effing terrorists!"

Finn gasps and follows the sergeant. Then he sees grappling hooks appearing in the air and clipping themselves on their boat.

There are so many of the terrorists coming onto their boat with guns and bayonets.

Finn stands his ground and the terrorists move closer towards him and the other soldiers, he looks at Pedro who reciprocates a worried face.

"We will make a deal." The captain of the terrorists says in a thick accent that Finn can't figure out where it's from.

"One of you will come with us or we will kill everyone aboard this ship."

Finn tenses up, he thinks about Rachel and his mum and Kurt. All the soldiers step back including Hammer and Bomber, the terrorists start to raise their weapons and one of them was about to shoot at the sergeant-

"Take me." A voice says, then Finn realises who said it. It was him, he had volunteered himself to a world of intense agony. He doesn't want to die, he needs to see Rachel again, he needs her right now. Without crying, Finn walks towards the terrorists. He catches his sergeant giving him a 'you-will-not-be-forgotten-face' and stops in front of the captain of the terrorist.

"Perfect." Finn hears the captain say before receiving a cloth to his face.

Then everything went black


	2. No

Tethered from darkness

Rachel saw the ship leave the dock and she couldn't leave, she didn't want to leave. Yes it's only been a couple of minutes but she already misses Finn, Kurt and her came here from New York to say goodbye to him, she couldn't believe her ears when she found out that Finn was getting shipped out so soon. She even made plans on what she was going to do with him when he took his break.

Rachel stands on a hill looking at the disappearing ship when Carole pats her back.

"Time to go sweetheart." Carole says with a smile on her face, Rachel turns around and follows Carole to the car. She could still distinctly remember his face lighting up when he saw her and the way he dropped everything just to hold her.

Now she has to go back to New York, wait for a couple of months and hope that nothing happens to Finn. Why did he have to enlist in the army? She thinks about him every day and she can't bear to lose him. He's her person.

Rachel leans on her hand in the car as she listens to Kurt annoying Burt with facts about Lady Gaga or clothes that he wants for Christmas.

"Oh Rachel, I postponed our tickets back to New York for two more days. I figured that we should spend time with our parents in Ohio." Kurt says while reading a Vogue magazine.

"Yeah sure." Rachel was excited to meet her dads again, it's been too long since they had a theatrical dinner with a little musical show afterwards. The Hudson-Hummel Berry family finally arrive in Ohio.

Rachel brings her suitcase into Kurt's room and wanders around his house; she finally comes across Finn's room and walks in. All his football posters are up and his room is as messy as always.

She sees a picture of them kissing in the Glee room with everyone surrounding them with a disgusted look on their faces. Rachel walks across to his desk and spies the football that was used in the first game he had ever won, with the single ladies dance and lastly the 'faggy lamp.' Kurt told her that Finn kept it in his room to apologise for his actions in the basement.

"Where's my little Rachel?" Rachel runs out of the room and sees her dads waiting outside Finn's room, she runs into their arms and laughs.

"Hiram, I don't think calling her _little_ would fit anymore. Look how mature she's become." Leroy says.

"Where are your reindeer sweaters?" Hiram asks and kisses his daughter.

"It's back in the new york apartment."

Hiram and Leroy walk down to the kitchen with Rachel and leave her alone with Kurt.

"You miss him don't you?" Kurt asks.

"I know it's stupid, it's only been a couple of hours." Rachel scoffs.

Carole finally finishes preparing dinner and sets it on the table. Everyone sits around and eats.

"I heard that Finn got shipped early." Hiram says.

"Yes, yes that's true. The army nowadays, so tight with information." Carole replies biting on a piece of steak.

"Well, to Finn." Leroy toasts lifting his glass and everyone clinks in the middle.

"Thanks for the meal Carole, it was lovely." Hiram says and grabs his jacket ready to leave.

"Alright, bye you guys." Carole and Burt greets, Rachel walks her dads to the front door before getting a kiss goodbye.

Rachel walks over to Kurt's piano and starts hitting random notes on the keyboard. She can't wait to get back to New York, everything in Ohio reminds her of Finn.

She stands up and starts in her routine in the bathroom before bed and joins Kurt, Carole and Burt in the living room afterwards.

"Hey Rachel, can you please tell my son that football is much better than a modelling show." Burt says wrestling the remote with Kurt.

"If you have to say that watching guys run around and jump on each other is better that smart, beautiful woman who have magnificent fashion taste is better. Then you need to get a brain transplant." Kurt retorts and moves over to let Rachel sit down.

"Well, you both are unlucky because I looked at the timetable and there are no modelling shows or football on tonight." Carole states as she reads an 'interior home' magazine.

Rachel sees the remote lying untouched on the sofa and grabs it before Kurt can think of another show he wants to watch. She starts flipping through the channels-

Dogs-

Talk shows-

Game shows-

Saturday night tv shows-

Terrorist attack-

David Attenboro-

Wait what? Rachel flips back to the terrorist attack channel, which gets everyone in the room alert and looking at the screen. Rachel increases the volume and holds Kurt's hand; no it can't be Finn's ships.

At 2:02 this afternoon, an army of terrorists attacked vessel 709. Sources say that the terrorists followed the vessel for a while until they were able to put their plan into action and hijack the ship. The terrorists outnumbered the soldiers and were carrying guns.

The terrorists took a man by the name of Finn Hudson and his circumstances remain uncertain.

Rachel's heart beat fast, no. No. NO. She hears sobbing coming from Carole which turns into bawling in just a couple of seconds. Rachel lets go of the remote and embraces Kurt who just stares at the television. Burt slams his hand on the table and starts swearing.

"WHY HIM?!" Burt yells and Rachel could hear the soft quiver in his voice get louder.

"Burt." Carole stands up and cries into Burt's shoulder.

How can this happen? Finn has just been gone for a couple of hours and suddenly there's a news report on terrorists capturing him.

What's going to happen to him? What are they doing to him? Where is he?

"Oh god, he must be so scared." Carole cries.

Rachel knows Finn, he is the strongest man and he will do everything he can to escape. Right? He won't go down without a fight to get back to her.

Carole walks towards Rachel and hugs her and then Rachel cries. Now the news has sunk into her and she starts crying her heart out. Her Finn!

That night was the worst night in her entire life, choking on her NYADA was nothing compared to this. Rachel lay in bed with her sleeves pulled down to her hands listening to Kurt's sobs.

Then her phone rings.

"RACHEL? OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. FINN. WHAT? THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" Santana yells and Rachel puts the phone to her ear.

"Santan-

"NO, DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! FINN IS OUT THERE RIGHT NOW WITH AN ARMY OF TERRORISTS! DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

"We will find him Santana, but don't tell the other glee members okay? I don't want them to know and worry." Rachel says, her voice turning hoarse.

"Okay, okay. I heard that Kurt postponed the tickets but do me a favour and come back soon okay."

"Okay." Rachel says and hangs up. Then her phone rings again.

"Miss Berry?"

"This is she."

"The secretary of War regrets to inform you-"

"Please don't finish that sentence, he's still alive."

"Miss-"

"I can feel it, he's still alive." Rachel says and hangs up, she didn't want to hear anyone telling her that Finn is dead; he's only M.I.A, not dead. Right?


	3. Keep or break

Tethered from darkness

Unknown location

Days in captivity: 1

It hurts…everything hurts. Finn opens his eyes slowly; he can't remember anything that has happened, he doesn't know where he is or why he is here. He lifts his head to see that he's on a jeep with masked men surrounding him, travelling to an unknown location…somewhere. His throat is so parched that he accidentally lets out a cough

The masked men turn to look at him and they all laugh, they wave their bottled water in front of his face.

"The brave one is awake." One man with sunglasses says.

"Get ready soldier." Another man says. Finn's heart beats fast…ready for what? Finn turns his head to see thousands of other jeeps following the vehicle he is on and thousands of jeeps in front of him.

Then he realises what has happened. Army. Terrorist. Captured. Rachel. He jolts up from his position, which causes the masked men to stand up and point a gun to his chest.

"No funny business or we will shoot."

Finn then feels two people pin him down while another ties his hands together with a shackle. Finn looks up and sees the jeeps enter a blocked off area with barbed wire sticking from the top. In the camp there are more of the terrorists, they all look sinister and merciless with their guns and knives. Two terrorists close the door and park a vehicle in front of it so no one can break into their headquarters, Finn's jeep drives into an abandoned warehouse and stops.

Finn then feels a fist collide with his stomach before getting a black sack tied around his face. A gun points at his back and he follows the men into goodness knows where, he walks up a couple of stone steps before getting shoved in a chair and ropes circled around his body binding him to the seat.

The sack gets taken off his head and he sees maybe twenty terrorists standing around him in a dark room with only a small light bulb as a light source.

"Welcome soldier." Finn recognises the man who says it, he was the 'captain' of the terrorists when he climbed aboard his ship.

"We will be asking you a couple of questions, you can choose to answer but if you don't…there will be consequences."

Finn swallows and lets out a coughing fit.

"Alright soldier, you tell us the answer to our first question and we will let you drink."

Finn looks away and sees that the shackles have started to chafe his wrists.

"Who do you work for?" Finn then realises what the terrorists are doing, they are trying to find out if he's American so they can release him for a ransom.

"My name is Finn Hudson." All of his training in the military has taught him that you only give your name, rank and serial number but judging by what the terrorists need to know, you only give your name. Part of the army training is interrogation and what to do if the enemy ever captures you.

Survival, evasion, resistance and escape. Finn knows that he will have to strong and be able to take the physical abuse that will come from the terrorists and the torture that they will put him through to get the answers they need.

The isolation, sleep deprivation and the malicious mind games that are made to harm a man or you can give away the information that will kill millions of people at the first broken bone because you can't take the pain anymore…

Finn thinks about Rachel, he needs to keep quiet about the information to keep her safe. He wasn't going to let terrorists harm her.

"We will ask you again, who do you work for?" the captain's face becomes stern and Finn knows that if he doesn't answer the question he will face his first method of torture.

Rachel. Rachel. Rachel

"Soldier Finn Hudson."

THUD

A metal fist collides with his stomach ten times before Finn doubles over in pain.

"You soldier will be the first to try out our new invention. The metal hand."

Finn groans and lifts his head up.

"Let's do this." He spits

Every time the terrorists ask him a question and he answers with his name, a metal hand connects with his stomach. The pain is unbearable but Finn thinks about Rachel every time he feels like telling the terrorists the information to stop the torture.

"Soldier, we are growing weary. One last time, who do you work for?"

"Soldier Finn Hudson."

The captain looks at his men and drops his weapon.

"You are very brave…but quite foolish." He then breaks Finn's foot, which causes a loud snap to echo around the room. Finn cries at the sudden movement and rocks back making his chair fall to the ground.

He lands on his head and breathes in at the pain, he then feels the captain untie him from the chair and throw him on the ground, he even takes off the shackles. Well he can't escape anywhere with his broken foot, so he just lies on the floor.

"We will continue our little game tomorrow." The captain says and walks out of the room. Finn cries in pain as he backs towards the wall, he wipes the sweat from his face and looks at his foot. He can see the bone poking out from it and the unnatural angle it is now.

Finn can hear the terrorist talk about dinner and he suddenly becomes very hungry and even thirstier. Finn then lets out a coughing fit, which makes the terrorist bang on his wall and commanding him to shut up.

Not going to cry. Not going to cry.

Finn then pulls out his picture of Rachel from his pocket.

"Stay strong baby." Finn says and looks at Rachel.

He looks at her gentle brown eyes and he knows that he will not break whatever they do to him… for Rachel.


	4. The Office's Mistake

Tethered from darkness

_Your 2012 prom king is… Finn Hudson and your prom queen is…students, for a second year in a row: we have had a write-in anarchy. Your prom queen for 2012 is miss Rachel Berry._

_Finn stood on stage in his black tuxedo and smiling broadly as she walked on stage, he looked so handsome and she looked gorgeous. The crown was placed on her head and the whole gymnasium was filled with loud claps of students. Finn took her hand in his and led her down the stage into a clearing made by the students on the dance floor._

_He smoothed her hair and told her that she looked sexy and beautiful; she then rested her head on his chest smelling his perfume and swaying right to left as 'You take my breath away' plays in the background._

_Finn then lifted her head, leaned in and kissed her. He kissed her for the remaining time that was left of prom. Never in a million years would she think that she would be crowned as prom queen with the handsomest man on earth._

_Rachel…Rachel…Rachel….is that Finn?_

"Rachel? Honey wake up."

Rachel opens her eyes and wipes away the tear stains on her face, she looks up and sees Carole sitting on her bed with a swollen face from crying.

"The secretary of war called us to come into the office." Carole says as she pushes back tears.

"Oh, are they going to tell us that he's de-" Rachel stops because she can't bear to say the next word. Carole gives her a hug before walking out of her room and wiping her face with her sleeve. Rachel sits on her bed and looks at the picture of Finn that she taped on her pillow last night and touches his face, if only it were real.

She untangles herself from her blanket and sees Kurt on the floor throwing Finn's football from one hand to another.

"Kurt, we have to go to the office of the secretary of war. Apparently, its about Finn."

Kurt stands up and nods his head and starts to get ready. Rachel brushes her teeth and changes her clothes, she looks out the window and sees Burt start the car. Rachel rips Finn's photo from her pillow and holds it tight in her hands before following Kurt towards the car.

Rachel switches her phone to discover millions of messages directed to her about Finn. Santana probably told everyone in the new directions about Finn's situation.

Carole turns the radio on in the car and starts crying when she hears what song it is. Kurt turns the other way to start crying and Burt starts to slow down the speed of the car.

The meaning of the song means so much to her right now.

_**Oceans apart day after day**_

Rachel thinks about Finn leaving on his army ship after promising her that he will stay safe. She didn't want to let him go, she knew something was bound to happen but she tried to stay optimistic and that Finn would be one of the lucky people that won't get captured or hurt.

_**I hear your voice on the line**_

Rachel remembers the first time she had heard Finn sing, it was his audition into the New Directions and they were singing 'you're the one that I want' from Grease. Something, she didn't know what…but something made her feel excited as she walked over to Finn and scared the hell out of him. Rachel smiled at the memory and leaned on her hand.

_**Wherever you go whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you.**_

Rachel looks at the picture of Finn and repeats the lyrics.

"Wherever you go, whatever you do: I will be right here waiting for you." Rachel whispers and she wipes away a tear that comes streaming down her face. She will wait for him, she will never ever accept that he's gone. She needs to be strong for whatever torture the terrorists are giving to Finn, it's the least she can do for him.

Carole turns off the radio and turns around to look at Rachel and Kurt, she then reaches forward and holds their hands in her hands.

"Whatever happens, we will be helping and supporting each other." Carole says and Kurt and Rachel nods in agreement.

Burt clears his throat.

"I uh- let Schuester know about what has happened and he is going to meet us at the office."

Burt pulls into a driveway and stops at the barrier, two guards come out and knocks on the window, Burt rolls down the window and leans out.

"Name and purpose." The guard with a thick beard asks.

"Burt Hummel and we are here to see Mr Intrator regarding the situation on Finn Hudson."

'Thick beard' looks at his clipboard and nods before commanding the other guard to lift the barrier.

"Security's tight isn't it." Carole says and Burt just moans in agreement. He finally finds a parking spot and after he parks the car and takes the key out, Burt just slumps back onto the car seat.

"You know i-uh feel empty." Burt starts.

"Burt-" Carole starts

"When he jumped out of his army car and ran towards Rachel, I wanted to hug him and say how proud I was. I watched him grow from a young teenager to a man, when he looked at me… I knew he wanted a hug and for me to say something but for some effing reason…I just shook his hands and talked about the army shipping its soldiers early. That's that.

I felt like such a bad step-dad, after he left I saw the other dads hug their sons and telling them to stay safe or how proud they were to have a son like that. Then I saw Finn walking off with a mate and he looked back at me, Carole, with so much sadness." Burt starts to cry and Carole unbuckles her belt to hug her husband.

Kurt then sees Schue step out of his car holding Emma his in arms, Rachel opens the car door and calls for him. Schue turns around and walks towards the Hudson-Hummel-Berry family. Immediately, Schue just embraces Kurt and Rachel like a father when he sees them.

"I'm so _so_ sorry." Schue says and stands back to hold Emma's hand. Burt finally calms down and together with Carole, steps out of the car.

Everyone walks into the office and sits down, while Carole walks over to the receptionist. Then a man dressed in a professional suit with a checked tie appears.

"Mrs Hudson and Mr Hummel?" the man calls.

"Yes?" Carole asks and turns away from the receptionist.

"I am Mr Intrator, please follow me."

Mr Intrator takes them to his office and pulls out chairs for everyone to sit.

"You are probably aware of the current situation that Mr Finn Hudson is in." Mr Intrator says and folds his hands on his desk, everyone nods and he continues.

"We are doing everything we can to find him but-

"But what?" Rachel interrupts and sits up on her chair.

"Mr Hudson did volunteer himself to the terroris-

"So, it's only been two days and you are giving up?!" Rachel asks, as her voice gets louder.

"Miss Berry, the fact that he willingly volunteered himself to the terrorists means that he actually wanted to go." Mr Intrator says. Rachel scoffs.

"_He actually wanted to go? _Are you hearing yourself clearly Edgar?" Rachel calls the man by his first name to be rude. "I know Finn, he would _never_ want to go with terrorists."

"We have sources-"

"Eff sources." A voice states, everyone turns around to look at Emma who just swore? Miss Pillsbury flipping someone off?

"How do you know that these sources are correct, how do you know that maybe, just maybe Finn might've volunteered himself to save the hundreds of cowards that didn't stand up to the terrorists?" Miss Pillsbury shouts and then stands behind Mr Schue looking red and flustered.

"I'm sorry, but right now there is nothing we can do." Mr Intrator says calmly. Miss Pillsbury storms out of the room, Burt, Carole and Kurt takes a deep breath.

"But, we were able to retrieve Mr Hudson's last note from his barracks in Fort Benning to someone here." Mr Intrator says and opens his drawer, he then takes out a piece of paper and hands it to Rachel.

Rachel opens her mouth in shock as she takes it, out of all the people Finn could've written to…he wrote to her.

Rachel opens the letter and reads it.

_Dear Rachel,_

_How are you doing? Training's alright because I have you in my mind as motivation. You're probably rehearsing for an audition but I know deep down you'll get it. You're a shining star Rachel and you always shine your brightest when you do something intimately important that defines you._

_Rachel, I love you._

_Love Finn._

Rachel starts to whimper as she reads it, she then realises that Kurt and her have to travel back to New York this afternoon. She turns to Burt and Carole.

"Can I keep this?" Rachel asks because Finn's parents might want to keep their son's last letter.

"Yes of course honey, he wrote it for you so it's yours." Carole says with a smile and hugs Rachel.

They all stand up without saying thankyou to Mr Intrator and walk out the door. When they got outside, Mr Schue and Miss Pillsbury say their apologies and they go their separate ways.

In the car, Rachel puts the letter to her nose and she can still smell Finn's perfume on it. She reads the letter over and over again until they finally arrive back at home.

Kurt walks upstairs to retrieve his and Rachel's suitcase for their flight back to New York, he figured that Santana is probably impatiently waiting for them back in their apartment. After hugging Carole and Burt for hours they finally settle on their plane.

Rachel looks at the seat pouch in front of her and takes out an instruction manual for emergencies. Rachel has a habit to read these manuals every time she catches a plane, she then feels a tap on her knee and sees Kurt telling her to look at the newspaper the man next to them is reading.

Rachel sees the news report on the newspaper.

"Soldier Captured by Terrorists"

Finn's handsome and boyish face is on the cover, he is wearing his camouflage uniform and dog tags and without thinking Rachel touches his face on the newspaper. The man reading it puts it down to stare at Rachel, probably thinking she is a hooligan that will annoy him for the rest of the flight.

"Teenagers nowadays." The man scoffs and turns away from Kurt and Rachel unaware of the situation they are currently in. It only takes an hour and a half to fly from Ohio to New York so Rachel will just have to put up with the man for that long.

"Passengers, we have arrived in New York. The time is 4:35pm." The pilot says and Kurt and Rachel walk out of the plane with their suitcase before catching a taxi to their apartment.

They open the door to see Santana pacing around the apartment, the moment Santana sees Kurt and Rachel she was running from the kitchen into their arms.

"Please tell me the war office is doing everything they can to find him." Santana says.

"Uh- they are actually doing the opposite. They think that since Finn 'volunteered' himself, he actually wanted to go." Kurt replies.

"Those… ANIMALS, I WILL GO ALL LIMA HEIGHTS ON THEM. NO, I WILL RELEASE MY INNER HITLER ON THEM AND SHOVE MY FOOT SO FAR UP THEIR A-"

"That won't help, they've already made a decision and by doing… 'that' Santana, it will just give them a better reason not to help us." Rachel says.

"But you aren't just going to sit here and sulk are you man hands? You will go find him on your own right?" Santana asks.

Rachel then looks up.

_You will go find him on your own right?_


	5. One chance to live

Tethered from darkness

He didn't sleep at all…he can't sleep. It's not the extreme coldness of the room, the fact that the terrorists are around the corner or the agonising pain from his broken foot. It's the fact that he might not see Rachel ever again, he tries to be positive but living in a dark warehouse in the middle of nowhere is not exactly giving him much hope of survival. He sits in the corner of the room, hugging his legs to keep warm. Finn can feel the goose bumps rising on his arms and he shivers at the cold.

He moves his body to a more comfortable position and winces when his leg shifts into a painful angle. He wipes the sweat from his face and holds Rachel's photo with his two hands. That picture gives him the will to live and push on through the pain, without it…he probably will just sink and waste away.

Finn then hears someone click a rifle and he quickly puts Rachel's photo into his pocket. The door opens slowly and light shines in, Finn squints at the sudden brightness of the room and suddenly he feels a bucket of cold water splashing his body.

He looks up to see five masked terrorists holding a bucket and laughing at Finn's drenching self. As if the cold atmosphere in the room wasn't enough…

"It's a shame." One of the masked men says.

"How so?" Finn says and realises how rough and hoarse his own voice is.

"Here you sit in the cold with a broken foot because you refused to tell us who you worked for."

"You won't get it out of me."

More terrorists file in as the first masked man squats in front of Finn and touches his chest.

"What are you doing?" Finn asks as the terrorist reach into his uniform.

"You think that we're stupid soldier?" The terrorist slides his hand down Finn's uniform to pull out his dog tags.

"Did you know that these tags tells us a lot about you uh- Finn Hudson." The man says and rips the tags from Finn's neck. Finn looks at his tags and he feels like he could literally kick himself, his security number is his identification card, the terrorists could easily get his number and find out which military he is from.

"The United States Army!" The terrorist exclaims and throws his tags away on the floor. "If you had disposed your tags then your pain would've been for something."

"Why are you here?" Finn asks and backs away into the corner.

"Well with one question out of the way, we can start on another one."

Finn stares at the terrorist with murderous eyes and coughs when he swallows.

"Did you know that your country is going to war with our country in a couple of weeks, this little setback won't stop the war: it will still continue." The terrorist asks and paces around the room slowly.

"Of course, how could I forget." Finn replies

"Where are your men attacking?" the terrorist stops pacing and kneels closely to Finn.

"Can't tell you." Finn says and wonders what interrogation techniques they have in store for him.

"I knew you were going to say that, grab him guys."

Finn then feels four people grab his arms and uniform and drag him towards the captain. Finn winces whenever his foot hits the ground or hooks onto rocks on the ground.

"Well Mr Hudson, you are one lucky soldier. You get to test out all our latest inventions." The captain says. Finn looks up to see a huge tub of water with a board situated on top of it with shackles bolted into it. They aren't going to drown him…are they?

The captain nods and his assistants roughly cuff Finn onto the board above the water.

"You are already wet anyway so why not try this?" the captain laughs and walks towards a lever. Finn can hear his heart beat fast in his ears.

"I will ask you again, where are your men attacking?"

"It's none of your effing business." But of course Finn doesn't say 'eff', he says what 'eff' stands for.

"Wrong answer." The captain pulls down the lever and the board plunges Finn into the water.

The water was freezing that it felt like a thousand knives were piercing his skin, Finn preserved his oxygen but his eyes were stinging from the saltiness of the water. His finally runs out of oxygen and he starts splashing about trying to free himself to breathe.

'Please, let me up.' Finn thinks.

His head hurts like hell-

His lungs are bursting-

His foot is excruciatingly painful as it bangs against the board. Finn starts to black out but just in time the terrorist pulls the lever up and Finn gasps as he breathes in.

"Congratulations, you lasted three minutes. Most soldiers faint during that time period." The captain says and leans against the lever.

Finn coughs and tries to get a full hit of oxygen to his lungs, he hangs loosely at the board and feels his nose, ears and head throb with pain. 'Please no more' is all that he's thinking.

Then Finn thinks about his photo of Rachel, he knows that it's probably soaked and ripping in his pocket.

"You know that you can tell us the answer and you will not have to face anymore pain." The terrorist says and mockingly lifts Finn's drooping head.

"No," Finn groans, "I know people like you, you say one thing and it turns out to be another. I know that you will just kill me after I tell you everything. So why not die with the secret?"

"I have never met a soldier like you, you have proved that you aren't just another pretty face. Most people would've already cracked." The terrorist leans in towards Finn's face and walks over to the lever and plunges him again.

The more tired Finn is, the less stamina he has, even though he really needs to breathe and his lungs are on the point of bursting he just lies completely still in the water.

_Rachel. Rachel. Rachel. Please don't forget me…if I die. I love you so much Rachel, I love you mum, Kurt, Burt, New Directions….Mr Schue…_

Finn wakes up to a slap to his face, he opens his weary eyes to see two people unbuckle him from the board and drag him towards the abandoned warehouse.

"You know soldier, terrorists are smart…cunning people. We come up with plans every second, unfortunately our next plan might not be good news for you." Finn doesn't have the energy to look up anymore.

The men throw Finn on the ground and he sees a tripod with a video camera attached to it. The captain pulls Finn by his uniform and brings him to the front of the video.

"Start it." The captain says and pulls down a balaclava to conceal his face; one of his men presses play and stands behind the camera adjusting the position.

"We have Finn Hudson with us, we will make a deal with you. Give us 7.5 million dollars in a month or we _will_ kill him." The captain says and walks over to Finn who lies on the floor motionless.

"If you don't give us what we want, we will promise that Finn Hudson will die a slow death. Every time Mr Hudson doesn't answer one of our questions we will cut a day off the period of a month." The captain kicks Finn on the back and he lets out a scream as he accidentally rolls on his foot. The captain nods and his men turn the camera off.

"Did you hear what I said?" the captain says as he walks out of the door with his men.

"I have effing ears you know!" Finn shouts and coughs non-stop.

Back in New York, Rachel lies on the couch sharing a bowl full of popcorn with Kurt and Santana. NYADA has been extremely difficult, especially since she thinks about Finn every second and Ms July has been making her work harder for 'slacking off.' Every channel on TV has been about Finn or things related to war. Every Saturday night movie ranges from 'The boy in the striped pyjamas' to 'Saving Private Ryan.'

Rachel recently heard that Mr Schue is getting the New Directions to pay tribute to Finn in Glee club; people are starting to think he's dead. They think that Finn couldn't possibly survive by himself with thousands of terrorists in an unknown location.

But she feels otherwise, two years ago when she attended Jean's funeral: Coach Sue said something about being tethered to someone. Rachel first thought that that was crazy, how can you be 'tethered' to someone and know how they feel, what they think or if they're still alive.

But now she understands what Sue is talking about, she knows that he is alive…she can feel it in her body that he's fighting and surviving by himself.

"Rachel? You okay, I'm just asking because I know now that when you're quiet you are thinking about Finn." Kurt asks and rests his hand on Rachel's.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rachel says and touches her 'Finn' necklace.

Rachel starts to settle back on the sofa when Santana steps out of room and says she hears someone at the door. Kurt slides the door open to see Burt and Carole with Mr Intrator who is holding a briefcase with a grim face.

"We have received a ransom video from the terrorists who have captured Mr Hudson." Mr Intrator says.

"When we first heard about it, I knew we needed to see and watch it with you guys." Carole says.

"Is the ransom payable?" Kurt asks

"I don't know, but I think the video says it all." Mr Intrator says and places his laptop onto a bench top. He opens his email and presses play.

Rachel walks over to the bench top and sits on a chair, she sees a dark room and she can hear a man moaning in the background. Suddenly, a man with a balaclava appears in front of the camera.

"We have Finn Hudson with us, we will make a deal with you. Give us 7.5 million dollars in a month or we _will_ kill him." The man says and Carole starts to cry.

"7.5 effing million dollars? Where the eff are we going to get that kind of money?" Burt shouts and rests his face in his hands. Rachel keeps watching the video and she finally sees Finn on the ground when the cameraman tilts the screen. Her Finn! Lying motionless on the ground, he looks so tired and weak: his clothes drenched and his foot in a painful angle.

"If you don't give us what we want, we will promise that Finn Hudson will die a slow death. Every time Mr Hudson doesn't answer one of our questions we will cut a day off the period of a month." Rachel covers her mouth as the man walks over and kicks Finn's back, she can hear him cry and she holds Santana's hands as she watches him in pain.

"Please, you need to help us look for him!" Kurt pleads but Mr Intrator shakes his head.

"I'm sorry, the war office have made up their minds. He chose to go himse-

Rachel turns around as soon as she hears a slap.

Mr Intrator stops halfway in his sentence and holds his face while looking at Santana with hatred in his eyes.

"Don't you dare, Finn Hudson is probably one of the world's greatest man and he is being captured, not because he effing chose to go but because he wanted to save the thousands of stupid soldiers who were to afraid of torture to volunteer themselves.

I can't believe that you are so cruel, you know what? Calling you cruel is the biggest understatement of the year! Sue me for assault because I don't effing care, my best friend is out there right now and he deserves to be saved!" Santana yells and sits back in her chair, giving Mr Intrator the most evilest death stare in the world.

"You know what…thanks to this little incident, it gives us a reason not to help you. I'm not going to sue you for assault because you will have lost too much already." Mr Intrator picks up his laptop and leaves the apartment.

"How in eff's world was he promoted Chief in the War Office!?" Kurt asks and kicks a rubbish bin.

"You know Finn would've kicked over a chair." Rachel says and starts to cry. Carole walks over to Rachel and rubs her shoulders.

"We will get through this, I'm his mother and I am not going to give up without a fight."

Rachel turns around and hugs Carole.

Finn finally wakes from his blacking out. He rubs his face with his hands and using the wall as his support, he stands up and puts all his weight on his good foot. He slowly hobbles away from the door and into the corner, he collapses pulls out his wet picture of Rachel.

He has made a habit to look at the picture after an interrogation to keep his strength up, he knows she will believe he's alive even if people won't. He can feel her planning to find him…it's like they're tethered.


	6. A untold secret

Tethered from darkness

The ransom video of Finn leaked onto websites and even on the news, sometimes when it gets too much: Rachel would turn off the TV if the video airs on a channel.

She has had many sleepless nights brainstorming ways to get enough money to pay the ransom but earning 7.5 million dollars in a month is not exactly possible if you work as a waitress or open a bake sale.

Rachel didn't feel like going to NYADA today but after getting a couple of warnings from Ms July she figured she would probably need to go if she wants to stay in NYADA.

So here she sits in the privacy of her own room watching reruns of her Nationals DVD. Mr Schue was able to get a tape of the New Direction performing at Nationals in Chicago last year so he sent it to each of his students. Rachel feels weird now whenever she hears or sees Finn's face and voice.

Since his disappearance, everything related to him seems like a dream…like he had never existed…but that was probably because she misses him like hell and hasn't seen him for three weeks now. Rachel feels so useless, she wants to do something: but what? She can't easily just locate Finn on her laptop and additionally her tiny frame won't exactly win against thousands of armed bulky terrorists.

**I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday**

Rachel remembers that right before Finn sang that song, she found out that Miss Tibideaux actually came to Nationals and after she belted out the final note of 'its all coming back to me now' she ran offstage to embrace Finn with open arms.

She can still feel his touch on her body, but it's fading. If only she knew that the last time that they kissed and hugged was actually the last time: she would have never let go and literally would've climbed aboard that stupid ship with him.

Even though that would mean getting captured by terrorists…but at least she will be with Finn and he wouldn't be alone.

"Rachel? What time is your NYADA class?" Kurt asks as he walks out of his room wearing a blue robe and his hair all dishevelled.

"9:15am, why?" Rachel asks and twists her body to the right to look at Kurt.

"Because it's 8:50 right now and I know it takes you more than half an hour to get to NYADA." Kurt says. Rachel spins her head to look at the clock and quickly jumps up to get ready.

She grabs her Nationals Duffel Bag, she remembers buying the bag with Finn in Chicago when they had won the competition. She knows that he brought the bag with him to Fort Benning and practically begged the sergeant not to confiscate his 'pink bag' because it reminded him of his friends.

Rachel grabbed her cardigan, water bottle and dancing shoes before saying a quick 'goodbye' to Kurt and running out of the door.

Rachel sprints to the train station and guiltily steps in front of an old man who was trying to get to a ticket booth.

Rachel knows she's ten minutes late, which is practically a death sentence especially since she's in Ms July's class. She runs into her class to see the students already dancing. Rachel steps in and tries to blend in with the people.

"STOP the music." Someone says and Rachel turns around to see Ms July standing behind the door and looking at her with an arrogant face.

"Do you knows what happens when a person runs late in a Broadway show?" Ms July asks as she struts towards Rachel.

"They give it-

"They give it to the understudy." Ms July interrupts, "Would you mind enlightening the class on why you came so late?"

"It's my boyfriend he-

"Oh, its your _boyfriend_?" Ms July mocks and circles around Rachel.

"Yeah, I'm just going through a really _really_ tough time right now." Rachel says and her brain flashes the ransom video in her mind, which makes her use all her strength not to cry.

"Let me guess, he is not putting much effort in your relationship, he is mean to you and he treats you like dirt…so you guys broke up." Ms July says and claps her hand after her sentence.

'If only you knew.' Rachel thinks and controls herself to not slap the shit out of Ms July.

"Do you know how many of my students I had to kick out because of boyfriend troubles?" Ms July asks and leans on the desk in front of the room.

"Trust me, it's nothing to do with that." Rachel chokes.

"Then what is it schwimmer? What must be so important that you need to waste my lesson?" Ms July shouts.

"My boyfriend is Finn Hudson. If you paid attention you would know that I'm his girlfriend and he has been captured by terrorists in his second deployment." Rachel shouts and wipes her tears.

Rachel turns and she sees Ms July in shock and she knows that she is trying to find a way to apologise. Rachel looks at the door and runs out carrying her Duffel bag in the process towards the courtyard and sits on a wooden bench.

Rachel looks at her bag and cries into it, she lifts up the flap of the bag and sees the signatures of the New Directions written in her bag. She sees Finn's with a love heart drawn around it and Rachel touches it because she knows that Finn has gone over that part of her bag before.

Rachel stops when she hears someone walk over to her.

"Brody I'm fine. It's ju-

"I'm really sorry." The person interrupts and Rachel looks up to see Ms July giving her a box of tissues.

"It's fine, you don't have to apo-

"No, its not."

Rachel turns to look at Ms July who sits next to Rachel on the wooden bench.

"I know what it feels like, I lost my boyfriend: Cruise to war as well." Ms July starts, "Cruise stayed in a camp in a warring country and on one of his look outs…he uh- ran over a landmine. It was a mess, he survived but gradually died in hospital.

I would always visit him and pray that he would survive but not everyone is that lucky. I wasn't always 'that' teacher that everyone fears. It's just that, my behaviour helps me through a tough time. Life isn't like those sappy Hollywood movies, its horrible and cruel and I would like to help you get your life back on track if anything bad happens."

Rachel nods and wipes her eyes with the tissues

"The only reason that I pick on you is that, I know you have a boyfriend and someone who loves you…me, I have no one." Ms July says and puts her arm around Rachel. "And because you are much more talented then I am." She adds which makes Rachel and herself laugh a bit.

"Thanks Ms July." Rachel says and smiles as Ms July stands up.

"Take the day off, but if you tell anyone that I admitted that you are better than me: I will deny it." She says and walks back to her class.

Rachel wipes the remaining tears from her face and starts to make her way home.

She slides the open to her apartment to find Santana and Kurt crowding around the bench top. They turn around looking startled.

"Why are you back so early?" Kurt asks

"Long story, but what are you guys doing?"

"Well, guess who got a job at Uranus?" Santana says.

"Wait, you don't mean Uranus' Strip Club do you?" Rachel asks looking shocked.

"Yep, made 1k in just an hour!" Santana grins and hands Rachel the money.

"Is this for-

"For the ransom, I mean every bit counts right." Santana adds and smiles.

"Don't worry Rachel, I think I got in at Sardi's as a waiter." Kurt informs and looks at his phone waiting to get a call.

Rachel remembers back in 2011 when her and the New Directions went to New York, Finn took her to Sardi's and they saw Patti Lupone. She remembers Ms Lupone telling her that Finn was cute and Kurt's fan-girling back in the hotel room when she told him about her encounter with his idol.

"It's a massive win-win, we will earn more money to pay the ransom and I might even meet Patti Lupone." Kurt says.

"Wait, Kurt I got a great idea. Miss Lupone is probably stocked with cash. Maybe you can create a diversion and I can steal her wallet with her money and credit card. Then Finn could be free!" Santana shouts.

"Yeah, we will put that as a maybe." Rachel says

"I just got off the phone with Mr Schue and the whole of McKinley is collecting money for the ransom too." Kurt says and puts his arm around Rachel.

"Think positively man hands, he will get out and we will pay the ransom and probably buy ice cream with the remaining money." Santana says trying to lighten up the situation. Rachel knows that they are tyring to help, but no one can make 7.5 million dollars just being a waitress.

"Where's Burt and Carole?" Rachel asks.

"They went back to the War Office to talk some sense into Mr Intrator, since Burt is a congressman his rank might help win some arguments." Kurt replies.

Rachel walks towards Kurt and Santana and gives them a hug.

"Thanks, you guys mean the world to me!" Rachel says and smiles.

"Finn's our best friend, we aren't going to sit around and do nothing." Santana adds and goes to her bedroom.

"Finn'll be rescued, the terrorists will get captured and you will have your life back again." Kurt shrugs

"How do you stay so positive?" Rachel asks

"It's the truth." Kurt states leaving Rachel in the living room by herself.

_Mind over matter, if Rachel thinks Finn will be safe. Then he will._


	7. Don't touch her

Tethered from darkness

Finn wakes up to someone kicking his leg.

"Wake up soldier!"

Finn turns around to see the captain commanding him to stand up.

"We need to get out of here!"  
"Why?" Finn asks hoarsely.

"We have to change locations otherwise we will be easily found!"

The man kicks Finn's broken leg, which makes Finn scream in pain and roll on his stomach holding his leg.

"Worthless rat!" the man says and pushes Finn against the wall before lifting him up by his uniform. Finn weakly slumps against the wall, his vision is blurry and his head aches probably because he hasn't had anything to eat or drink for a couple of weeks.

The man hands Finn a small glass of water, which only holds five millimetres of water. He doesn't care if it is poisoned; he is too thirsty that he will just drink anything.

The captain unlocks the door and Finn: using the wall as support, hobbles towards the captain. He squints at the sudden light in his eyes and feels shackles tied around his hands with ropes attached to them.

"You will be walking the entire way to our new location." The captain says and laughs as he opens a bottled-water. The other terrorists walk towards him carrying sacks of supplies and they climb onto the jeeps, one terrorist that could pass for a wrestler holds the ropes on Finn's shackles and pulls it, making Finn step forward on his bad foot.

Finn falls to the ground by the sudden jerking, which makes the terrorists laugh and pour their water on his clothes and hair.

The jeep starts and Finn walks slowly with it, he is careful not to apply too much weight on his broken foot but every step is an agonising movement. Some of the terrorists would throw food at him or even small rocks but he is too weak to care.

"He's quite strong." One of the terrorists says to the man holding the rope.

"Yes, but watch this." The rope man jerks the rope, which makes Finn drop to the ground, and the jeep just drags him along the dirt road.

'C'mon, you can do this Hudson.' Finn thinks and slowly stands up and walks with the jeeps. He starts to sing songs in his head from the Glee club to help push him through, but his hunger is making his vision blurry and he starts to become dizzy.

Finn drops to the floor in the heat and hear the terrorists moan in annoyance with his slow pace, everything seems to be doubling and moving around his head. He feels two pairs of hands drag him up from the collar of his uniform onto the jeep.

"You will have to do a couple of things for us in the new headquarters for our hospitality." The captain says.

They finally arrive at two huge metal gates; the captain jumps off to open them with his key. He then climbs into the driver's seat and goes underground, the new head quarters is underground! Now he has no hope of anyone finding him. Finn sits up with his back towards the window and looks around him.

The headquarters is lit up with tiny light bulbs giving the place a dim atmosphere; he can sense the eeriness of the place, which makes Finn thinks that it hasn't been occupied for a long time.

The terrorists then throw Finn onto the ground and command him to stand up as they move him to his prison compartment.

His room is smaller this time but at least he can see with the tiny light bulb on the ceiling.

"Settle in pretty boy, because we got something in store for you!"

Finn sits on the rocks in the corner of his room and pulls out his picture of Rachel.

"Still alive baby-"

His prison door swings open to reveal two men with cloths standing at his door.

"Remember when I told you that you needed to do something special for us? Well here it is." Finn quickly hides his picture of Rachel before getting pushed out of the door.

Finn finally makes it into a well lit up room with a chair in the middle, they shove him into it and tie him up with ropes.

"Okay, are you going to tell us where your men are attacking?" the captain asks.

Finn shakes his head.

"Thought so, bring it in!" the captain shouts and ten terrorists bring in a huge tripod-like invention with metals and ropes attached to it in the middle. The captain then unties Finn and wraps the ropes from the tripod onto his arms and feet making him stand with his arms tied outwards to the side.

The terrorist then strips the top part of his uniform making him shirtless and standing in the cold.

After awhile Finn's arms start to ache and he winces at the pain.

"Where are your men attacking?" the captain asks.

"I'm not going to say."

THUD

His fist collides with his bare stomach

"Where are they attacking?"

"Not saying."

THUD

"WHERE ARE THEY ATTACKING?"

"NOT EFFING SAYING!"

THUD

Finn spits out blood and saliva, which makes the captain shakes his head.

"Why put this pain upon yourself?"

"If it's to save millions of people then do your worst." Finn spits and the captain wipes his face with a cloth before walking over to a trolley. He pulls out a small knife.

Finn sees the knife and he can see his heart protrude out of his chest as it beats quickly.

"I didn't actually want to do this." The terrorist says and pierces the knife into his arm. Finn screams in pain and tries to get away from the captain but it's no use, he can see the deep cut in his arm and he looks at the captain with murderous eyes.

"Go to effing hell." Finn says and winces at the continuing pain.

"Well, since you won't tell us where your men are attacking we might bomb the entire area then." The captain says and throws the knife on the floor.

"What?!" Finn asks and looks up

"Yeah, you heard me! If you had told me where your army was attacking our country then maybe millions of people wouldn't be killed. Only the army would." The captain says.

"No, you can't do this!" Finn shouts

"Yes, I can. Their death is on you Finn Hudson!"

"Where are you bombing first?"

"Ohio, I did some research Mr Hudson and apparently you were raised in Ohio."

Finn looks up and tries to snap the rope from his hands but it only gives him burns.

"Why?" Finn finally asks

"Because, long time ago. Your fellow Americans captured my dad in a war and I'm just returning a 'favour'. An eye for an eye Mr Hudson."

"If I tell you, will you leave the millions of people alone?" Finn asks, this is the biggest dilemma he has ever faced. He literally has to choose the fate of thousand of soldiers or millions of people in America.

"No." the captain says and walks over to his uniform and pulls out a picture of Rachel.

"Why don't we just kill her?" the captain asks and looks at Rachel. Finn shouts and violently pulls on the ropes and metal that traps him.

"No! Please I'll do anything just don't hurt her! You can hurt me but please don't touch her! I'm begging you!" Finn pleads and this time he cries. He cries so much that the captain tells his fellow terrorists to come watch.

They are going to hurt Rachel and there is nothing he can do about it.

"Please, leave her alone!" Finn begs and starts bawling as the terrorists rips his picture of Rachel into pieces. The men releases Finn from the tripod and chucks his clothes at him, he uses it to apply pressure to his wound on his arm but stays on the ground.

"Look, you can kill me but don't kill an innocent girl!" Finn sobs and puts on his clothes slowly as the tears come cascading down his face.

"Find this girl and bring her to me. Maybe it will make Mr Hudson talk!" the captain says and brings Finn back into his room.

As soon as the terrorists locks the door he starts crying and hitting his broken foot on the wall. All those weeks of protecting Rachel has gone to waste, it's all because he didn't want to answer any of those effing questions. He would rather millions of people die then Rachel…wait, if Finn's love for Rachel would see him killing people for her would their love for each other be dangerous?

Finn erases that thought and punches the door until his knuckles bleed…no one answers and Finn bangs his head on the wall and wipes his eyes with the sleeve.

"I'm so sorry Rachel!" I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Finn repeats and cradles himself with his head towards his chest

"I'm surprised you haven't got a concussion from all that head banging business." A man's voice says. Finn looks up with a tear stained face and sees a man in the prison next to him.

"I'm sorry but who are you?" Finn asks as he tries to hide the quiver in his voice.

"I'm Cillian." He says and extends his hand through the bars.

"Why are you here?"

"Same as you, I've been captured by those effing terrorists!"

"But your not in uni-

"No uniform? Yeah, I used to be part of the military. They tracked me down for years ever since I killed the Captain's brother long time ago."

Finn sees the tiredness and wrinkles of the man before him and wonders what the terrorists have in store for Cillian for killing the captain's brother.

"I'm Finn-

"You're Finn Hudson, I know a lot about you. I looked at the news before they kidnapped me: apparently you volunteered yourself to save your army."

"Yeah…"

"You regret it?"

"I don't know, I mean uh- yeah kinda now." Finn says and wonders…does he _really _regret it.

"Because of the torture?" Cillian asks and points to Finn's arm.

"Yeah and because-

"You miss your missus?"

"How do you know?" Finn asks and he sits down near Cillian.

"Heard you crying out her name…Rochelle wasn't it?"

"It's Rachel." Finn corrects and thinks about Rachel, her sweet face, gentle eyes and loving personality.

"She good to you?"

"She's the best girl there is." Finn says.

"I'm sure a boy like you has had many girlfriends in the past."

Finn thinks about that, he had dated Quinn then Rachel, slept with Santana and not to mention Kurt crushing on him.

"I don't know about that." Finn scoffs and rests his hand on the stone wall. "Do you think we will make it?"

"I don't see why not, God will help us." Cillian says and Finn looks at him confused.

"God?" Finn knows there is no God or…that God just chooses not to help him, with all the stuff he's been through wouldn't God already have helped?

"Don't you believe in him?"

"I used to, for like a week because I thought he appeared to me on a sandwich-

Cillian gives Finn a confused look.

"But then my counsellor said it was just a coincidence and that God doesn't appear in sandwiches, now I'm just not sure." Finn says.

"Well you need to believe in something."

"I believe in my girlfriend, I know she won't let those terrorists touch her. She's smarter than them." Finn says and looks at his broken foot.

"Whatever you say kid." Cillian smiles. "What about your family?"

"What about them?" Finn asks as he feels the tears come back again as he mentions his family.

"Do you miss them like hell?"

"Of course. Especially my mom and step brother…and my step dad." Finn adds "What about you?"

"I haven't talked to my family, my wife and son are estranged. I made a deal with myself that if I survive I would go find them…but getting trapped in a place like this is not really giving me much hope." Cillian sighs and rests his head on the wall like Finn.

"If I survive…I'm going to marry my girlfriend." Finn says and remembers the moment he proposed to Rachel after Mr Schue to Emma. He will never forget the day she said yes and the way he felt like he was in heaven when she hugged him.

"Right kid, off to bed. Don't know about tomorrow but at least I gotta meet you." Cillian says and dozes off.

Maybe Finn didn't need that picture of Rachel to keep him strong. She is always with him…in his heart and if he says he will see her again then he will.

"Remember kid, mind over matter." Cillian adds. Finn lies on the floor and looks at the ceiling.

_Please Rachel, don't let them hurt you. Run…Now!_


	8. Hang in there

Tethered from darkness

"One thousand and twenty, One thousand and twenty two, One thousand and twenty six." Rachel counted the cheques and cash from her friends to pay for the ransom. She only needed seven million, four hundred and ninety eight thousand, nine hundred and seventy four dollars left. Rachel doesn't want to say that it will never be enough or that it is impossible to get 7.5 million dollars in a month, because her friends are doing everything they can.

She recently heard from Mr Schue that he will be selling his car to help pay for the ransom but an extra two hundred thousand won't exactly be the amount that will make the ransom 'payable.' Rachel slumps back in her seat and holds her 'Finn' necklace in her hand.

'What am I supposed to do?' she thinks and suddenly she bolts up from her seat and runs to her computer. Santana said that she shouldn't give up and if the War Office won't help, why not look for him herself?

Rachel knows that she spent all her money on the last flight back to New York but Kurt wouldn't mind if she used his credit card to pay for a train to take her to Ohio…would he?

Rachel grabs Kurt's card and types in his number, she then packs her clothes in her Nationals Duffel Bag and starts to run out of the apartment when she meets Santana in the lobby.

"What are you doing?" Santana asks

"I'm going to my class-"

"It's Saturday-"

Rachel taps her fingers on her leg as she tries to think of a new excuse.

"You're going to find him aren't you?" Santana shouts and walks towards Rachel

"No uh- I'm-

"Because you didn't think that I would let you do that by yourself. Did you?" Santana asks and waves her train ticket in front of Rachel and the both of them catches a cab to the train station.

"What about Kurt?" Rachel asks the moment they sit in the terminal

"I sent him a text message."

"Saying what?"

"Hey Kurt, Rachel and I are going to find Finn. Bye." Santana says casually and crosses her legs. Rachel thinks about Kurt's reaction if he reads the message, he is going to have a massive heart attack!

"When did you buy that ticket?" Rachel asks.

"Yesterday, I was getting sick of not doing anything. I thought at least one of us should go find him, so why not me?" Santana replies and looks at Rachel.

"Four years ago, would you have thought that we would be sitting here in the train station trying to find Finn Hudson who has been taken by terrorists?" Rachel asks and Santana chuckles at the question.

"No way." Santana smiles.

"Do you think we will find him?" Rachel finally brings herself to ask, "I mean where do we start?"

"Look," Santana uncrosses her leg and turns towards Rachel "I don't know what the future holds, but whatever that is: I want to know that I tried my hardest to find Finn and not just lounge around. I'm sure Finn is out there right now counting on us to believe that he's alive."

Rachel nods her head and suddenly she sees four masked men walk up the stairs to the train station. Rachel touches Santana and directs her eyes to the men.

"Are they-?"

"The terrorists." Rachel says and sees the train coming their way.

"If we can just make it into a carriage without being noticed…" Rachel says, and Santana and her faces away from the terrorists. The train stops and Rachel and Santana walks slowly into it.

The door shuts.

"Over there!" the terrorists point towards Rachel and starts running.

"Shit! Why aren't the doors closing?" Santana yells, as she stands paralysed with fear at the oncoming terrorists.

'C'mon, close…C'mon!" Rachel thinks and just as the terrorists reaches them, the doors shut and the train moves away.

"What the eff? What are they doing here?" Santana screams and they move to a more crowded carriage.

"I don't know." Rachel says and sits on a seat, looking at the window to check if they are following the train.

"If they are here, what has Finn told them?" Santana asks and tightens her hair.

Rachel shakes her head.

"So, where are to?" Santana asks

"The War Office, I'm sure a couple of soldiers would be happy to come with us to find Finn."

"Yes, but even then… how do we locate where he is?"

"I haven't quite worked that out yet."

Rachel and Santana would take turns looking around to see if any terrorists have managed to climb aboard, but so far they are safe. Then Rachel's phone rings.

"Santana, it's Kurt." Rachel says and Santana lifts her eyebrows and leans closer to the phone to hear the conversation between Rachel and Kurt.

"Hello?"

"OH MY GOD, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MINDS? YOU GUYS DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY WEAPONS TO FIGHT ANY TERRORISTS! HECK, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE HE IS? WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" Kurt shouts loudly that Rachel had to turn off the volume.

"We're on the train, we're fine." Rachel mumbles.

"Wait, that's a quick answer…something happened didn't it?"

"Uh- well."

"Rachel!"

"Okay, there were a couple of terrorists who might be after me." Rachel finally says.

"Okay...okay I'm felling dizzy."

"We'll be safe, I promise." Rachel says.

"That's what Finn said before he got on that bloody ship."

"Kurt, please let us do this. Don't tell Burt or Carole…or MY DADS!" Rachel shouts and realises that her dads don't know anything about Finn or her current situation.

"I don't want to lose you guys like I did with Finn." Kurt says and Rachel can detect the quiver in his voice.

"I've got Santana who will kick any terrorist's ass. Think positively, we will be back with Finn soon." Rachel says, which amazingly wins Kurt over.

"Okay, but if you aren't back in two weeks I will tell everyone." Kurt says and Rachel and Santana agrees and they shut the phone.

"I thought Kurt was going to come." Santana says and sits back in her seat. After complete silence from the two of them, Rachel finally remembers something.

"Do you remember graduation day and I met you guys at the train station back in Ohio and Finn ran with the train as it was leaving?" Rachel asks

"Yeah, after the train got too fast he just dropped to the ground and started crying." Santana says.

"Did he?" Rachel never knew that the new directions had to help Finn calm down after he left her at the train station.

"He was crying for hours and putting his face on your picture." Santana remembers.

"Wow, I always thought that Finn would've just went home and played video games to put his mind off."

"He was pretty heartbroken, but he told me that he wanted to see you go to NYADA and live your dream." Santana adds which leaves Rachel speechless for the entire trip.

They finally arrive in New York and they leave their bags in a motel before catching a cab to the War Office. Rachel and Santana steps into the air-conditioned office and they both search for Mr Intrator.

Rachel finally sees him walking from his room to a bubbler.

"Hey Edgar!" Rachel shouts which makes Mr Intrator stop in his tracks.

"What are you doing here? How did you get passed the security guards?" Mr Intrator asks.

"Look here _Edgar_, if you don't shut up: I will go all Lima heights on you. So listen to what my friend has to say!" Santana says.

"We need you to tell us the approximate locations for terrorist headquarters and we will take it from there!" Rachel says.

"That is classified information!" Mr Intrator scoffs.

"I really hope you have dental insurance _Edgar _because you are going to lose a couple of your teeth in a second." Santana threatens and steps forward but Rachel holds her back.

"Please, my boyfriend is out there and you need to help us. Please just tell us or send a couple of soldiers with us." Rachel pleads.

"Do you not understand how the war, works Miss Berry?" Mr Intrator asks arrogantly "Many young girls like you lose their loved ones to war, you aren't the only one!"

"Yes, but I'm the one that is willing to go find him. You want money, take one thousand dollars from me: I don't care because I can give more. I just want somebody to find my Finn!" Rachel starts to cry, Mr Intrator scoffs and walks away.

Santana puts up her rude finger as he leaves and hugs Rachel.

"Wait, I have an idea." Santana finally says.

Santana and Rachel run out of the War Office.

"Where are you going?" Rachel shouts as she tries to catch up to Santana.

"I remember a couple of nights before, I was skyping Brittany and she told me that she saw Finn's sergeant walking towards his home in Ohio. At first I thought she was joking because she only says like one correct statement every year, but I looked him up and found the sergeant on Google maps as he enter his house! Thank the Lord satellites snapped that photo."

"So you know where he lives?"

"Yeah, I walk home from his street every day!"

Rachel and Santana catches a taxi and travels to the Sergeant's house.

They finally arrive and knock on the door.

A bulky man with short hair opens the door.

"Can I help you?" the man asks.

"Do you know Finn Hudson?" Rachel asks and the man looks down on the floor.

"Yes, he is the bravest man I've ever known."

"So you are the sergeant?" Santana asks and the man nods.

"Can we come in? We want to ask you something." Rachel asks, the sergeant steps aside and invites them in.

As Rachel walks in with Santana a German Shepherd greets them.

"What is it you want?" the Sergeant asks and pats the Shepherd as he walks over to his benchtop.

"We want to find Finn…but we need your help to do it." Rachel says.

"My help?"

"Yeah." Rachel and Santana say in unison.

"I-

"Don't say that it's a dangerous mission or that it's classified or that Finn is dead, that's the kind of crap we have heard from people who won't help us find him. I know he is alive, I can feel him leaving the world but I can tell that he's staying alive for us to find him-"

"I'm sorry-

"Don't you dare say you're sorry, why won't people help? What has Finn done to make people give up on him so easily?" Rachel shouts at the sergeant, she figures that she's probably the only one who has done that.

"I'm sorry that you will probably get hunted down by terrorists if you kill one of their own to save your boyfriend because if you stop shouting you would see that I am looking at a map to pinpoint Finn Hudson's location." The sergeant says and crosses a place with a red marker.

Rachel walks over to the sergeant.

"Wait, you're looking for Finn too?" Rachel asks

"Yes, he is the best soldier I have ever had and he saved my life by offering his to the terrorists. I will do everything in my power to bring him back, even though it means that I will be walking to a definite suicidal mission. So to answer your question, I am coming with you." The sergeant says and looks at Rachel.

Rachel then hugs the sergeant.

"Thank you so much, thank you!" Rachel cries into the sergeant's t-shirt. The sergeant, who has never had a hug before just touches Rachel's back and clears his throat.

"So where are we going?" Santana asks.

"Well, I've been tracking Finn's approximate location for weeks and some villagers say that they've seen a western man wearing a camo uniform on a jeep, travelling to this location." The sergeant explains and points to an area in the middle of nowhere.

Santana walks over to witness the pinpointing for herself.

"My guess is that the headquarters is here." The sergeant continues and circles the centre area in 'nowhere'.

"Alright, so he's 'there' right?" Rachel asks and points to the centre.

"No, you see: if terrorists are smart they would change locations so no one can actually get an accurate pin point of their headquarters, my guess is that the terrorists have moved: with or without Finn." The sergeant adds.

"Okay, where do you think they moved to?" Santana asks

"Probably somewhere hidden, underground or near coastal plains." The sergeant says and scratches his head.

"Okay, so what's the plan." Rachel asks.

"We start in their first headquarters in the centre and move our way up." The sergeant says and folds the map in his pocket.

"What country is it?"

"Afghanistan, it doesn't mean that the terrorists are from there but the country has a lot of desert areas which are an advantage for hiding 'things.'"

"Are we even allowed to do this, I mean…the media is after our story on Finn and the War office kinda forbade us to find Finn. I mean how do we get to Afghanistan?" Rachel asks and sits on the couch.

"Fly there of course!" the sergeant says.

"How? We haven't booked any tickets." Santana questions.

"I have connections to people who fly planes in the army, but the War office isn't exactly going to let us operate their planes..." The sergeant trails off and looks at Rachel and Santana with a guilty face.

"Wait, we're going to hijack a plane?" Rachel shouts. Never in her life would she think that she would hijack a plane to save her boyfriend from terrorists in Afghanistan. If she went back in the past and told her younger self about what she was going to do in the future, she probably would've laughed herself out of the room.

"If Puck was here, he would probably scream with joy!" Santana smiles at the idea of stealing a plane from the country.

The sergeant picks up his phone.

"Wolf? Hey it's Ike, how do you feel like flying a plane tomorrow? Great! Meet you there!" the sergeant says and looks at his German Shepherd.

"I'm just telling you that Gunnar will come too." The sergeant says and points to his German Shepherd.

"He's the finest military dog in America, I stole Finn's shoes from his barracks and Gunnar knows his scent now." The sergeant says and pats his dog twixt the ears.

"You ready for this mission?" the sergeant asks

"Yes." Rachel and Santana replies and the soldier nods his head.

_Hang in there Finn, I'm coming!_


	9. One down, One to go

Tethered from darkness

"Miss Berry, Miss Lopez?"

Rachel and Santana wake up to someone banging on their motel door. Rachel rubs her eyes and opens the door to see Gunnar sitting at the front step with the sergeant behind him.

"You ready?" the sergeant asks

"It's only 2am." Rachel says and invites the sergeant in.

"We have to break into the military's hangar, if we leave now we might be able to get there before the securities catch us." The sergeant says, Rachel and Santana brush their teeth and change their clothes before grabbing their bags and following the sergeant.

They climb into the sergeant's car and buckle up before he accelerates and they drive off away from the motel.

"What time did you wake up?" Rachel asks the sergeant

"Didn't sleep, I guess I was just thinking about the rescue mission too much."

"So what happens after we rescue Finn? How are we getting home?"

"I don't actually know." The Sergeant confesses and turns on the headlights in the dark.

"What? But what about your buddy that flies a plane, won't he fly us back to Ohio." Santana asks

"I don't know, you better hope he will stay: plus the planes only have a certain amount of fuel and the war Office will come after us if they notice one of their planes missing." The sergeant says.

"But can't you get fuel in Afghanistan?" Rachel asks

"You want to get fuel in the middle of nowhere in terrorist terrority?" The sergeant turns around and lifts his eyebrow at Rachel. Rachel sits back and rubs her tired face.

"I told you guys this was a suicide mission, there is no guarantee that we are actually getting out alive." The sergeant adds and runs the red light.

"But what about if Finn needs medical attention? What do we do then?" Rachel asks as the realisation dawns on her.

"Gunnar is carrying a couple of bandages in his dog pack…but other than that, we have to hope for the best." The sergeant says and Rachel and Santana reciprocates looks.

Rachel then hears her phone ring.

"Hello? Kurt?"

"Rachel, where are you?"

"I'm in the Sergeant's car, we're heading to the military hangars near Fort Benning."

"So the war Office agreed?"

"Actually the opposite-"

"How so?"

"We might be stealing a plane-" Rachel waits for Kurt to realise.

"WHAT? YOU'RE BREAKING INTO THE MILITARY'S HANGAR AND STEALING A PLANE. WHAT HAPPENED TO RACHEL BERRY?" Kurt shouts and makes the Sergeant shake his head and chuckle.

"Okay, say you get there…but how do you get back to Ohio?"

"Um, we haven't quite figured that out yet but we are hoping the guy flying us there will stay with us-" Rachel confesses

"Great, just great. Look just be careful okay…I'll talk to you guys tomorrow."

"Bye."

'How would we get back?' Rachel thinks and looks out the window. After what seems like hours sitting in the back seat of the Sergeant's car they finally arrive at the Hangars.

Rachel and Santana climbs out and walks towards the Sergeant who lights a cigarette. 

"Where's your buddy?" Santana asks and looks around.

"He'll meet us here." The Sergeant replies, then they see a young man: a bit older then Finn with blonde hair, blue eyes and a square jaw walk towards them.

"Girls meet Wolf." The Sergeant introduces and Wolf extends his hand.

"I'm Santana…you can totally fly me anywhere if you want."

"Um I'm Rachel berry and I really appreciate what you're doing." Rachel elbows Santana's arm to snap her out of her little crush on Wolf.

"My pleasure." Wolf says and ushers them to follow him.

"I heard that you guys are breaking the law." Wolf says as he stops in front of the Hangar.

"Yeah-"

"Don't worry, I like breaking the law as well. Especially the rules of the war office." Wolf says and kneels down.

"Sorry to ask, but what are you doing?" Rachel asks

"I'm finding a rock."

"Why?"

"So I can do this." Wolf picks up a large rock and smashes the hinges of the door, in a couple of minutes the door falls down which makes a loud siren turn on.

"Crap, what now?" Santana asks

"Now you run and follow me." Wolf says and runs towards a small plane that has full fuel. He lifts Rachel, Santana and Gunnar into the plane and tells them to wear the headphones and buckle up.

Wolf then locks all the door and jumps into the cockpit after the sergeant climbs aboard too, after checking that everything is in place, he drives the plane out of the Hangar and onto the runway.

"I'm really sorry to tell you, but I haven't exactly flown a plane in a very long time." Wolf says as he pulls on his headgear and accelerates the small plane.

"Wait wha-

The plane jerks backwards and takes off.

"If we die, I'm going to kill you Ike!" Santana screams and closes her eyes.

The Sergeant laughs at her and pats his dog, who seems to be more relaxed then Santana.

"Man, I forgot how free flying makes me feel." Wolf exclaims

"Breaking the law has its perks." Rachel says which makes Santana look at her.

"Never in my life would I imagine Rachel Berry to say that sentence." Santana says.

After the plane stops taking off and is flying, everyone seems to relax.

"Hey guys?" Wolf asks

"Yeah?" Rachel replies.

"I was thinking, I want to help on this mission. I'm not going to go back to Ohio, I can fly you back if you want after you save..."

"Finn, he's name is Finn."

"Yeah, I can fly you back after you save Finn. I mean I'll probably just get caught anyway so why not get caught helping?" Wolf asks and turns around to smile at Rachel.

"Thank you Wolf." Rachel thanks and smiles at Santana.

"Well, at least we know how to get back!" The Sergeant says

Two hours into the flight, the Sergeant starts to hand out drinks. Rachel puts it aside and Santana looks at her.

"Why don't you drink it?"

"Because I don't know if Finn is given any food or water."

"Look, if I was Finn I would probably want my girlfriend to eat." Santana says and opens the juice box for Rachel.

"God, I hope he's okay." Rachel says and leans her head back on the seat

"You'll find out soon, but in the meantime: a girl can hope."

"Aarghh." Finn shouts as he scrapes his bruised knuckles on the metal poles in his compartment.

"Cillian?"

No answer

"Cillian?"

Finn crawls towards his friend's jail room to find that it's empty. Oh no, what are the terrorists doing to him. Finn puts his ear towards his room's door to hear the outside world and he can hear footsteps coming his way. Finn painfully crawls back to his position and pretends to sleep. He sees what's happening through slitted eyes:

Cillian's door opens and he gets pushed in.

"Cillian?" Finn asks and the man turns around, Finn can see that he has a black eye probably from a small beat up.

"You okay?" Finn asks and he coughs from his extremely thirsty throat.

"I'm fine, you okay though? You don't look so good." Cillian asks and walks towards Finn.

"Yea-" Finn stops midway in his sentence and cough so hard that he starts to wheeze.

"Geez kid, what are they doing to ya?"

Finn feels his head and knows that he's burning up, he looks at the deep cut in his arm and he knows that he's got an infection. He can see the wound begin to drain yellow fluids and the surrounding skin has become dangerously red and swollen.

"Crap." Finn whispers as he touches the increasingly hot part of his wound.

"What did they ask you?" Finn asks Cillian to put his mind off the infection.

"They didn't, the men just say that I had much worse things to come. What about you? Will you ever tell them info?"

"I don't know, I know that maybe one of the interrogation methods would be so painful that I would eventually have to tell." Finn says and wipes the cold sweat from his face.

"Kid, I have a son and I know what a fever looks like. You need medical attention, that cut is looking real mean." Cillian says and lifts up Finn's sleeve to reveal the red streaking of the skin around his arm.

"Do you know if anyone is going to find you?" Cillian asks

"I don't actually know."

"Well, you better hope they come here fast."

Finn listens to Cillian and looks at the infection, the days still to come won't be good…would they?

Wolf finally makes it to the North Atlantic Ocean.

"Just another ten more hours girls." Wolf informs and presses autopilot as he walks towards the small bathroom in the back.

"Where are we landing when we get there?" Rachel asks as she checks the fuel dial.

"Well, I highly doubt there will be a runway for us. My guess is probably sand." The Sergeant replies

Wolf returns back to his seat and winks at Santana before pressing autopilot off and flying the plane.

"That kid can turn any gay girl straight." Santana says and Rachel just smiles. 'Okay, just ten more hours until they arrive.' Rachel thinks. She imagines the plan in her head: she's going to break in with the Sergeant into the headquarters, get Finn and run back to the plane, where Wolf will take off and fly them back to Ohio before the terrorists can catch them.

Rachel knows it's easier said then done but at least she's got the basis of a plan.

A lot of hours pass and Wolf finally makes it to the border of Iran.

"When did you decide that you wanted to be a pilot?" Santana asks Wolf.

"My dad was a pilot, but he got a dishonourable discharge, so I researched and found a way to make his status an honourable one. I don't know if breaking the War law to save a man from terrorists is going to help me achieve that…but I heard that Finn Hudson is a great man so I will do everything I can to keep those kind of people in the world." Wolf replies and Rachel thinks about his story and how close it sounds to Finn.

"Finn's dad got an dishonourable discharge too, that's why he joined the army." Rachel says.

"Yeah, I heard of him…his name was Christopher Hudson right? He saved two men from a burning truck back in Kuwait. My dad told me about him." Wolf replies.

"Alright misses, we're here." Wolf says and everyone buckles up. The sergeant gets out his map to tell Wolf where to land.

"I gotta tell you, it will be hard to land a plane on sand." Wolf chuckles, he pushes the yoke and the plane starts to land.

"If you land this plane kid, I will tell the army about you." The sergeant says and claps Wolf on his back.

"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate!" Wolf wipes a bit of sweat from his head and positions the plane correctly.

Rachel looks out the window to see nothing but desert areas, Wolf finally touches the plane on the ground and they all praise Wolf and clap their hands.

Wolf steps out first to look at the area before holding Santana and Rachel's hand to help them out of the plane. Wolf and the Sergeant opens the back of the plane to reveal several guns, the Sergeant takes one for himself and two for Rachel and Santana.

"I'm so telling Puck this when I get back!" Santana says as she grabs the gun. Wolf comes over and teaches Rachel how to use one in case of an emergency. Wolf locks up the plane and starts to walk away with Gunnar by his side.

"Shouldn't we find a car to take us to the first headquarters?" Rachel asks and suddenly Wolf stops.

"Speak of the devil." Wolf says and points everyone's direction to a group of masked men relaxing on a jeep.

"Crap, how are we going to steal that thing?" Santana asks.

"Get out of sight." The sergeant informs and Santana, Rachel and Gunnar run to hide behind a rock, they peek and see Wolf and the Sergeant crawl behind the jeep.

Suddenly, Wolf punches one of the three guys and knocks him out. The Sergeant hits the other two men on their head with the butt of his gun and ushers Rachel and Santana to come.

"You are turning me on so much." Santana says to Wolf who just returns a cheeky grin and starts the jeep.

"Alright, let's go." The Sergeant says and climbs aboard the jeep. Wolf follows the map and the fading wheel tracks in the sand.

Minutes later, Wolf finally parks the jeep in front of an abandoned warehouse with barbed wire on the top.

"Alright stand behind me." Wolf kicks down the door to find that the whole place is deserted.

"The ransom video showed that Finn was in that warehouse." Rachel says and points towards the warehouse.

"Alright." The Sergeant nods and runs to the warehouse quietly.

'1,2,3.' The Sergeant gestures and kicks down the door. Rachel, Santana, Gunnar and Wolf file in and search the place.

Rachel then finds two dog tags on the floor in the corner.

"Oh my god!" Rachel runs and picks up the dog tags. She starts crying into them. "He was here!" Rachel chokes and Wolf walks over to her. He squats and holds the tags.

"Be strong miss Berry, we will find him soon." Rachel nods and hugs Wolf

"Okay, we know that Finn has either escaped or is with the terrorists in the new location." The sergeant says, "I doubt he escaped because terrorists are normally very tight with security."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Wolf says and helps Rachel to her feet.

The Sergeant and Gunnar walk towards the jeep and sits behind the wheel, Wolf, Rachel and Santana sits in the back and holds their guns in their laps.

_Alright, one headquarter down…one more to go._


	10. The battle

Tethered from darkness

_He can't see…but he can feel: pain. Pain burning in his body, his head his hurts so bad, that he knows that it will rip in two any time now. He just wants it to end, he wants time to stop and he wants to see her again._

_Her? What's her name?_

_Rachel-_

_Is that her name?_

"_Finn!" Is she calling for him?_

"_Finn!"_

"_Fi__n__n__." No, she's fading away. Come back! _

"Finn!"

Finn wakes up to see that his clothes are drenched with his own sweat, he feels heavy and lightheaded.

"Kid, you're sick."

"There's nothing I can do about it." Finn replies and coughs because of his dehydrated throat.

"How many more days until the ransom finishes?" Cillian asks

"One more."

"There still might be a chan-"

"Don't worry, I'm sure my friends are doing the best they can…and if they can't, let's just hope for a quick death."

"Kid-"

The door suddenly unlocks and three masked men stand in Finn's doorway holding a whip.

"What are you doing with that?" Cillian asks the men as they grab Finn roughly by the arm and drag him away.

"None of your effing business old man!"

"FINN!" Cillian yells and the door closes. Cillian stands up and looks through a small hole in his door, he can see Finn with his head drooping on his body and his foot twisting in an unnatural angle.

"Poor kid." Cillian whispers

…

Rachel knows that Wolf has been looking at her during the entire trip but she's with Finn. Her goal right now is to find Finn and return him back to safety, she's not going to let some blonde pilot that she only met yesterday be the centre of her thoughts.

"Where do you think the headquarters is?" Rachel asks.

"My guess is underground, the temperature is increasing and even though they don't care about Finn's health, the certainly care about their own." The Sergeant replies.

"Okay, I have to tell you guys something: this mission is a balance between life or death. One wrong foot out of place and you could be looking at a bullet shot on your body." Wolf finally says which makes Rachel's heart beat fast, she knows that at least one of her friends won't make it and that person is looking like Finn.

She knows the more time they spend looking for him, the more likely he is fading. They just need to get find the location as soon as possible otherwise he will di-

"Rachel, look!" Santana says

They finally come across two large metal gates.

"Here we go." Wolf says and grabs his gun

…

Finn doesn't even care anymore, he's too sick to care. He just lets the terrorists drag him to the interrogation room; he doesn't even mind the pain from his broken foot.

"Alright soldier let's do this." The captain says and ties Finn to a metal pole.

"Do you know that half of our men are looking for your girl?"

Finn doesn't say anything; he just closes his tired eyes.

"If she comes find you, she will be walking right into our clutches." The captain says

"One more days until the ransom closes, did you know that we have received no money at all…some friends you've got there."

"Don't you dare talk shit about my friends." Finn moans and rests his head on the rusting pole.

"One would think that we would get at least five thousand dollars for the ransom."

"Shut the eff up.

"No, you shut up." The Captain says and strikes Finn with the whip.

…

Rachel and Santana climb out of the jeep holding their guns while following the Sergeant and Wolf towards the metal gates.

"Gunnar stay here boy." The Sergeant commands and the German Shepherd lays down in the jeep with its tongue out.

It's easy to be a dog.

The Sergeant climbs over the gate and unlocks it from the inside.

"Keep your eyes peeled." Wolf says and walks towards the underground headquarters. Rachel and Santana hold their gun in front of their faces and walks down quietly.

Suicide mission, suicide mission, suicide mission. Rachel couldn't help but think of that phrase. She grips the gun harder as fear overwhelms her body, Wolf looks through the window and turns around.

"There are guards standing in front of the door." Wolf whispers and tells Rachel and Santana to hide. Wolf knocks on the door and four masked men opens it-

Four bullet shots ring and Rachel can see the masked men fall to the ground with blood gushing out of their head.

Ten seconds ago they were just guarding a door and now they're dead, it's funny are fragile life is. Wolf helps Rachel and Santana step over the guards and they follow the sergeant into the headquarters.

The headquarters is dimly lit with only a few bulbs every five metres.

"Okay, we carefully search each room for Finn. Then we get the hell out." The Sergeant says and looks in all directions for terrorists.

They finally make it to the first door; Wolf slides it open and tells the others that the coast is clear. They hear a terrorist walk towards them, Rachel and Santana hide in the corner and just as the terrorist walks in: Wolf shoots him and he drops dead.

Rachel looks at his cold dead eyes, his bloody figure-

'They are bad people…this is good. Be strong…you're so close." Rachel tells herself and follows Wolf through another door. The sergeant peers over a wall and together they descend down a stone staircase.

…

Finn's back erupts in pain, he sees blood trickling down his shoulders before another whip strikes his back.

Finn starts to whimper.

"If only your girlfriend could see you now." The captain says

WHIP

Finn screams and bangs his head on the pole

WHIP

He tries to free himself but its no use.

WHIP

The whip hits a sensitive spot and a scream erupts from Finn that probably tears his throat in two.

"My, my that was fun." The captain says and unties Finn, he drags him towards his compartment and slams the door shut.

"Finn!" Cillian rushes towards Finn but stops when he arrives at the bars separating his cell from Finn's.

"Finn, wake up kid." Cillian says but he knows Finn is unconscious. Cillian can see the blood seeping through his uniform and he prays that his friend will not die of blood loss.

…

Santana stops in her tracks and tells everyone to listen.

A loud agonising scream echoes through the headquarters.

"That sounds like-"

"Finn!" Rachel interrupts and tries to listen to where the scream is coming from

"Over here!" Wolf calls and runs towards where he thinks Finn is. Rachel wipes the tears falling down her cheeks, she knows Finn is in pain, Rachel just hopes that they find him soon.

The Sergeant shoots and a terrorist falls to the floor, but Rachel doesn't care anymore: she just needs to see Finn.

Wolf stops and looks around, suddenly a fist comes out of nowhere and punches Wolf on the bridge of his nose and knocks the sergeant unconscious

Wolf holds his bloody nose and grabs his gun. He points it at his attacker.

"Tell me which one of you is Rachel Berry and the rest of you will walk out alive." The man says.

"There is no Rachel Berry." Wolf spits.

The man then knocks Wolf's gun out of his hand and slams him against the wall, Rachel and Santana stands paralysed with fear at Wolf.

"Shoot him!" Wolf says and looks at Rachel with pleading eyes. Rachel stares at the cold weapon in her hand and points it at the attacker's head and shoots it. The man groans and falls off Wolf with a sickening thud.

Rachel closes her eyes and drops her gun, she had just shot a man. She killed somebody!

"Rachel…" Wolf walks towards a shivering Rachel and hugs her.

"He deserved it and remember you just saved my life." Rachel cries into Wolf's neck and hugs him back.

"Santana, take the Sergeant back to the jeep. The less people there are the easier the mission is." Wolf hands Santana the man's rifle and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck." Santana says and grabs the sergeant by the arm and leads him out.

Rachel knows that Santana is probably happy to get out but the Sergeant might not be. Wolf snaps Rachel out of her thoughts and run out of the room with her, Wolf wipes his nose with the back of his sleeve and waits for Rachel to catch up.

"You still look handsome." Rachel says pointing to Wolf's nose and he just laughs at Rachel's bad timing to make jokes.

Wolf leads Rachel down another flight of stairs.

"I am absolutely clueless to where Finn is." He admits and looks around. Rachel then sees a small trail of blood leading from a room and points Wolf's gaze to it.

He nods and knocks down the door with his shoulder, Wolf stands in front of Rachel as they enter a lit up room.

Rachel and Wolf sees a tall metal pole in the middle with a small pool of bloody coming from it, she then sees a tripod-like object with a trolley of sharp weapons.

Wolf steal four of those weapons and hides them in his pocket to use in case a terrorist appears.

"Rachel?" Wolf calls and Rachel runs over to him to see a picture of her ripped into pieces.

"That's Finn's!" Rachel says and picks the picture up. "They ripped up Finn's picture!"

Wolf then sees a trail of blood leading to another room, he points his gun forward and holds Rachel's hand. They walk towards a door when suddenly Rachel feels a tap on her back.

"Ah miss Berry, so nice of you to be joining us." A masked man says, Rachel sees another man place a cloth on Wolf's face and he drops down on the ground before she gets a cloth onto her face.

Then everything went black.

…

_Wolf? Wolf where are you? Where's Finn? Have you found him yet?_

Rachel wakes up in a room, she lets her eyes adjust to the brightness of the room. She rolls over and bumps into Wolf.

"Wolf? Wake up!" Rachel screams and her companion opens his eyes.

"Where the eff are we?"

"In a cell."

"Great, so we are caught." Rachel helps Wolf to stand up. Suddenly, she hears a man groan. Wolf touches his pockets and tshirt but of course the terrorists took away his gun and the sharp weapons he found.

They hear the man groan again, Wolf walks over and looks behind a pile of rocks.

"Shit! It's Finn!" Wolf says, Rachel finally processes what Wolf has said and she runs over to him. Rachel sees Finn's pale face and his sunken cheeks.

"Oh my god Finn!" Rachel says and strokes Finn's cheeks, she then sees Wolf remove his hands from Finn's back to reveal blood.

Rachel lifts up Finn's uniform to see deep slices in his back.

"Finn, wake up honey. I'm here…Rachel."

Wolf checks Finn's pulse and breathing and tells Rachel that he is alive but unconscious.

"I'm guessing you must be Rachel Berry." Rachel looks up to see a man in the adjacent cell talk to her.

"Yes, how do you know who I am?"

"Finn talks about you everyday."

"He does?"

"Yes…how rude of me: my name is Cillian." Wolf lifts Finn and brings him towards Cillian.

"What's wrong with him?" Rachel asks

"Miss, he went through a lot of torture these past weeks. He is extremely weak." Cillian replies.

"Finn? Oh my God. She can see the very dark circles around Finn's eyes and the sickness in his face.

Rachel puts her head on Finn's and closes her eyes.

"Rachel?" a hoarse voice asks. Rachel pulls away to see Finn look up at her.

"I'm here baby." Rachel replies and holds his trembling hands. She can see Finn smile, he pulls her close to him and she kisses his lips.

"I love you Rachel." Finn says and caresses her hair.

"Me too Finn." Rachel replies and strokes his cheeks. Underneath all that swelling, cuts and bruises on his face is a handsome man that Rachel once fell in love with, she hated seeing him like this.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" the door opens and Rachel, Wolf, Finn and Cillian look up to see a terrorist lean against a wall with a gun in his hands.

"I'm guessing you are Rachel." The man says.

Rachel holds Finn's head in her laps while Wolf stands up in front of them.

"Let them go." Wolf says as the man walks towards them.

"No, it isn't that easy, you see…you guys never managed to pay the ransom in time so I am here to kill your sweetheart." The man points a gun at Finn.

Just as he was about to press the trigger, the terrorist falls to the floor. Rachel looks up to see the Sergeant and Santana at the doorway holding a gun.

"Don't you dare think that I wasn't going to take part in the mission." The Sergeant says and rushes over to Finn.

"How are you soldier?" the Sergeant asks and holds Finn's hand in his own. Finn starts to close his eyes but the sergeant gives him a light slap.

"Nup, you are staying awake!" The sergeant then wraps Finn's arm against his neck and lifts him up.

Finn screams in pain as the sudden movement stretches his raw whip wounds and his broken foot slams against the floor.

"Alright Wolf, lead the way." The Sergeant commands.

"Stop!" Finn says, "We need to save Cillian."

The Sergeant nods and shoots the hinges on the door, Cillian rushes out and helps the Sergeant with Finn. Santana, Rachel and Wolf lead the way while Cillian and Sergeant helps Finn.

Finn would yell at the agonising pain occasionally and droop his head.

"Come one soldier, don't give up now!" The Sergeant yells

"Please Finn, hang in there!" Rachel pleads and strokes her boyfriend's cheek as Cillian and the Sergeant lift Finn up the flight of stairs.

Finn starts to sweat from his fever and wheeze whenever he coughs.

Santana says and stops behind a wall to check if the coast is clear.

The Sergeant opens a door and was about to lead them out when suddenly, a terrorist appears out of nowhere and points a gun at Finn.

A gun shot rings through the headquarters and pierces someone. Rachel shields her ears and closes her eyes, another gun shot rings and the terrorist falls to the floor. Rachel knows Finn got shot, the man was pointing a gun at him, should she open her eyes?

"No!" Someone screams, Rachel looks through her fingers to see Cillian standing in front of Finn with a large bullet hole in chest. Finn tries to hold Cillian from falling to the floor but he's too weak to carry him.

Finn starts to tear up as Cillian drops to the floor. Cillian holds his chest as he looks up at a crying Finn. Finn escapes from the Sergeant's grip and drops to floor, his foot collides with a rock but he doesn't care.

"Cillian, please don't die." Finn cries.

"Finn, you need to survive. You need to get out of here!" Cillian says

"No, we can get you out of here. You can't die here!"

"Finn, there's a reason why I saved you."

"No-"

"Finn, listen to me. You told me what you were going to do if you got out of here: chase your dreams kid… and marry your girl." Cillian whispers the last words so that Rachel won't hear

"Cillian…"

"Can you do me favour kid."

"Anything."

"Tell my son Noah Puckerman that I love him, he means everything to me: tell him that I am sorry that I never got to see him grow up and that I will be watching over him. Finn…tell Noah that I am so proud to call him my son.

I'm happy that I got to meet a kid like you, now get out of here and don't stop believing." Cillian says and with one look at Finn he closes his eyes.

"Cillian? Cillian? CILLIAN. PLEASE NO! WAKE UP, YOU'RE NOT DEAD! CILLIAN PLEASE WAKE UP!" Finn shouts and cries onto Cillian's chest, he grips the man's shirt and bawls his eyes out.

"He can't die in a place like this!" Finn says and he feels Rachel embracing him, Finn hugs her back. Rachel holds Finn's head as he cries into the crook of her neck.

"Finn," Rachel said as she slides her hand down his face, "We need to get out of here." Finn looks at Cillian and takes his necklace before nodding at Rachel. The Sergeant grabs Finn's arms and lifts him up. Finn screams in pain and holds Rachel's hand.

Santana holds her gun and Wolf leads the way, Finn turns his head to look at Cillian one more time before the doors close.

"I'm so sorry." Finn whispers as more tears cascade down his face. If Finn wasn't weakening from sickness and infection he would take Cillian's body and give it a proper burial back in Ohio.

"You deserve better." Finn thinks and hobbles along with the sergeant. They finally reach the large metal gates and run out of the headquarters. Wolf starts the car while Santana opens the jeep for the Sergeant, Finn and Rachel.

"Grab the water bottle!" The sergeant says and Gunnar turns on his side so that his master can take what he needs from the dog pack. The Sergeant rests Finn on his back and opens the bottle.

"Here drink up!" The Sergeant says.

"No, give it to Rachel!" Finn manages to say.

"Wrong answer soldier." The Sergeant says and holds Finn's head up as he pours the liquid into his mouth.

"You're going to die of severe dehydration." The Sergeant says when he realises that the bottle only contained a small amount of water.

"How long until we reach the plane?" Rachel asks as she looks at Finn's condition.

"A couple of hours." Wolf replies and wipes the bead of sweat from his face.

The Sergeant shifts his position and accidentally bumps Finn's arm, Finn lets out a scream and Rachel lifts up his sleeve to reveal an infected wound.

"Sergeant!" Rachel says and points his direction to Finn's arm.

"Santana, get the rubbing alcohol." The sergeant commands, Santana fishes in the pack until she finds a brown bottle, she hands it to the sergeant who tells Rachel to keep Finn's head still.

Rachel runs her hands through Finn's brown hair while the Sergeant pours the antibiotic on his arm. Finn lets out a weak scream and shuts his eyes, Rachel looks at Finn: she didn't like the pain he's going through.

Whenever the opposing team in football sacks Finn, her heart drops every time Puck has to pull him up. Now, Finn's condition is beyond her. What happened to the cheery boy in Glee Club that would sing show tunes every now and then.

Rachel grabs a cloth and wipes the sweat from Finn's face, in a couple of minutes Finn starts to doze off. Rachel strokes his hair and rests her head.

…

"Rachel? I think she's asleep."

Rachel wakes up to find herself sleeping on Finn's chest.

"We're nearly there." Wolf says and turns around to look at Rachel who sits up.

"Finn baby? We're almost there." Finn opens his drooping eyes and smiles.

Wolf accelerates when he sees the plane in the distance.

"Woohoo, we made it guys!" Wolf yells and throws his arms up in the air.

"Eff!" Wolf swears

"What's going on?" Santana asks

"Hold on guys!"

Suddenly, the jeep jerks forward and spins out of control, the front two wheels of the jeep deflates and the jeep comes to a stop.

"Did you hit a sharp rock or something?" The Sergeant asks

"I don't know what the eff happened…" Wolf says and gets out of the jeep to examine the wheels, he realises there are bullet marks on the wheel.

"SHIT!"

Wolf returns back into the car.

"Everybody put your head down!" Wolf shouts and several bullets hits the army jeep

Finn lifts his heavy head up to see the Captain appear from behind the plane. The Sergeant climbs out of the jeep holding a gun in his hand and pointing it at the Captain.

Santana and Wolf stands behind the Sergeant with their guns pointed at the Captain too for backup.

"Put your guns down or I will set the plane on fire." The Captain threatens and pulls out a bomb.

"You wouldn't dare!" The Sergeant says and slowly puts down his gun.

"Try me!" The Captain says and steps closer to the plane. Santana and Wolf drop their weapons and stare at the Captain with murderous eyes.

"Give me back my prisoner and I will let the rest of you return to the plane."

"No way, Finn's with us!" Wolf screams and walks closer to the Sergeant to form a shield in front of Santana.

"Really? Maybe you should join Cillian after I have finished with you!"

"You effing killed him!" Finn manages to shout.

"Yes, but you killed his attacker. So we are even."

"Guys, I have an idea, it's pretty crazy but it's my plan or die." Wolf whispers and Santana and the Sergeant looks at him.

"Head back to the jeep and stay low." Wolf says. Santana, himself and the Sergeant walk slowly backwards.

"The guns?" Santana asks and points to their only weapons on the ground.

"Nah, leave them."

The trio finally makes it to the jeep and climbs in.

"Whatever you do, do not lift your head!" Wolf says and wipes the sweat from his blonde hair.

Rachel and Finn crouches low on the car floor, Santana and the Sergeant copies and slides down to the floor. Wolf grabs a helmet from a compartment in the jeep and puts it on.

"HOLD ON!" Wolf screams and accelerates, the Captain grabs his gun at the sudden movement and tries to shoot the jeep, but it bounces off the metal car as Wolf steers away from the flying pieces of metal. Wolf presses his foot down on the accelerator and speeds towards the plane.

"Sergeant, take the wheel!" Wolf says and the Sergeant grabs the steering wheel, Wolf starts to open the car door.

"What the hell are you doing?" The Sergeant yells, but Wolf jumps out and tackles the Captain. The Captain presses the trigger on his gun but it narrowly misses Wolf. Wolf wrestles with the Captain and throws his gun towards the oncoming jeep and the Sergeant crushes the weapon.

"Get on the plane!" Wolf yells as the Captain punches him on the face.

The Sergeant parks in front of the plane and lifts Rachel and Santana on it before carrying Finn and Gunnar. He lays Finn on the floor and starts the plane, Gunnar starts barking at Wolf and thumping his tail on the ground with nervousness, the Sergeant lets down a ladder for Wolf and screams out of the plane.

"Wolf! Come on!"

Wolf kicks the Captain and runs towards the plane,

"Lift the plane off the ground!" Wolf yells.

Wolf reaches the ladder but the Captain pulls out a small gun from his side pocket and points it at Wolf.

"WOLF!" Santana shouts and a loud gunshot rings.


	11. Sepsis

Tethered from darkness

"Wolf?" Santana asks as she slowly walks towards the edge of the plane door. She then sees someone climbing up the ladder. Wolf heaves himself onto the plane and shuts the door, he looks down at his leg where the Captain had shot him.

"This is going to ruin my day." Wolf says and hugs Santana. The Sergeant puts the plane on autopilot before ripping up his uniform to tie around Wolf's leg, Wolf uses the Sergeant's soldier and lifts himself off the ground and walks towards the cockpit.

Everyone puts on the headgear and listens to Wolf.

"Guys, we're heading home!" Wolf says through gritted teeth and turns the plane around, Rachel and Santana sits down next to Finn and holds his left hand.

"You are so brave." Rachel says and kisses Finn's forehead.

"Not as brave as you." He manages to say before his fever takes over him and he sleeps.

Rachel picks up her phone that she left on the plane and dials Kurt's number.

"Kurt…"

"Hello? Oh my god Rachel! What happened, did you find him?"

"Yes we did."

"OH MY GOD! I NEED TO TELL CAROLE RIGHT NOW!" Kurt squeals

"Where are your right now?" Rachel asks

"I'm here with Puck-"

"Puck?"

"Oh yeah, we were just going to beat up that Mr Intrator guy at the War Office."

"I'll see you back in Ohio?"

"Yeah."

Rachel shuts her phone and puts a wet towel on Finn's head.

"You can go to bed if you want, I'll watch him." Santana says

"What about Wolf, has he slept yet?"

"The Sergeant and him are taking turns to fly the plane."

Rachel nods and sits on the plane seat, she finds a discarded blanket on the seat and wraps it around herself.

She looks out of the window…at the night sky…the stars are brighter today…

…

"Rachel!" Wake up!" Rachel opens her eyes to find Santana yelling at her, Rachel jumps out of her seat to see the Sergeant bending over Finn.

His temperature is ricocheting back and forth, Finn starts to sweat and shiver violently. Rachel grabs the blanket she was using and covers Finn with it.

Finn starts to double over in pain, he grabs Rachel's hand as the pain fires up in his body.

"It hurts so much!" He yells. Santana runs over to Finn holding the remaining millimetres of water, she tips it into Finn's mouth and changes the wet towel on his head.

"What's happening?" Rachel asks and touches Finn's burning face.

"My guess that it's the infection." The Sergeant replies and holds Finn down from his thrashing.

"Wolf?"

"Yeh?" Wolf replies

"Where are we now?" Rachel asks and Wolf looks at his radar

"We're crossing the border between Iran and Iraq. Tell Finn to hang in there." Wolf yells.

"Gunnar, grab the morphine." The Sergeant tells his dog, Gunnar sniffs around the plane until he finds the morphine bottle. The Sergeant finds a first aid kit on the plane and injects the morphine into Finn. He really hopes it was the right dosage or that it was on the vein.

After a few minutes of intense pain from Finn, he finally calms down, Rachel sits with her back towards a wall, holding Finn's head and torso in her arms.

"How do you feel?" Rachel asks

"Really, really cold." Finn replies and snuggles closer to Rachel with the blanket wrapped tight around his shivering body.

"What would I do without you?"

Rachel smiles and runs her fingers through Finn's hair.

"How did you find me?"

"The Sergeant did, we stole this plane and flew from Ohio to Afghanistan in a day."

"You love me that much?" Finn smiles and Rachel looks at his brown eyes.

"You're figuring that now?"

Finn chuckles which leads to a cough, Rachel lifts the sleeve on Finn's uniform and sees that the infection has turned his whole arm: red and swollen.

"It's bad isn't it?" Finn asks

"Try to go to bed Finn." Rachel finally says and Finn nods and turns his head towards her and closes his eyes. Rachel rests her head on the plane wall and looks down at her boyfriend. He's face: so precious and handsome…things will return to the way they were before, Finn will get an major honourable status or maybe even a medal for his efforts and he will come live with her, Santana and Kurt in their New York apartment.

…

"Good morning guys this is your captain speaking- Argh- sorry that damn leg, anyway we are arriving soon in Ohio." Rachel wakes up the next day and smiles at Wolf's commentary.

'Okay the first thing they need to do is land the plane and call the ambulance to take Finn and Wolf to the hospital' Rachel thinks and wipes her tired face with her free hand, she stands up and tries to make as little movement as she can to not wake Finn up.

Rachel sits in the cockpit next to Wolf.

"Hey there Rach." Wolf says and shifts the bandage on his foot.

"Karma will get that bastard, you know." Wolf jokes about the terrorist Captain and Rachel giggles.

"Thanks for everything, I mean you- uh- I-"

"Don't worry, I did it to help a friend." Wolf says and looks at Rachel

"Where do you live?" Rachel asks.

"I don't know, I kinda got kicked out of my apartment when I joined the army coz I couldn't pay rent anymore."

"Why don't you come live with Santana, Finn and myself?"

"Really? You would let me?"

"Yeah."

"So, with you three?"

"Yeah and Finn's gay stepbrother."

"Okay, yeah I will!" Wolf says excitedly.

Wolf the smiles at Rachel with the biggest grin he can muster.

"What?"

"Look out the window."

Rachel turns and sees that they are back in Ohio.

"Oh my god, you brought us back home Wolf!"

"Floyd Weeks."

"What?"

"That's my name: it's Floyd Weeks. I thought that at least one person should know my real name and not my tag."

Rachel smiles and returns back to Finn.

"Wake up honey, we're here." Finn opens his eyes and Rachel helps him sit up.

Wolf touches the plane down on the runway in the military hangar and laughs when he sees the broken hinges on the door he smashed with the rock.

The Sergeant claps Floyd on his back and helps Rachel lift Finn up.

"Alright, Santana call the ambulance."

Wolf turns and jumps off the plane with Gunnar, he lands on his good foot when suddenly a pair of hands wrenches his arms back and handcuffs them.

"We are arresting you for theft of military transportation vehicles." The arrestor says and shows Floyd his badge.

The Sergeant puts Finn down on the plane stairs and walks over to Floyd.

"What the eff is going on?" The Sergeant yells

"This man has stolen milita-"

"He did it to save one Finn Hudson, I command you to free him immediately!"

The Arrestor looks at Finn and releases Floyd from the handcuffs.

"But you need to come with me to the War Office." The arrestor says

"We are not going anywhere except the hospital, Mr Hudson is in a critical condition and Wolf has a bullet in his leg." The Sergeant yells and steps towards the arrestor who walks backwards.

Suddenly Finn turns back and vomits violently, the Sergeant and Rachel rushes over to him.

"Finn, what's wrong?" Rachel asks and feels Finn's burning head.

"It's hard to breathe Rachel and everything hurts." Finn wheezes and doubles over in pain.

"Santana where's the ambulance?" The Sergeant asks

"They say they are going to arrive in a couple of minutes." Santana says and rubs Finn's back as he starts upchucking again.

The Arrestor just stands there and looks at Finn.

"Can you check where the ambulance are?" The Sergeant yells and the man runs out of the hangar and onto the road.

"They're here!" the arrestor shouts and leads the paramedics towards Finn.

Finn's vision starts to get very blurry, he can't see Rachel and he starts to panic.

"Rachel?" He says but his voice isn't working.

Time seems to be slowing down and voices start to become muffled. Finn feels something attach to his face…is it an oxygen mask? 'Am I dying?' Finn thinks. He can't feel anything except for the excruciating pain coming from his stomach.

He can hear Rachel….but he can't see her…I need you…where are you?

…

Carole and Burt sits in a couch back in Ohio.

"The ransom period is over, our Finn is going to die and we haven't even made a single cent to give." Carole says and cries into Burt's neck.

"Caro- wait listen!" Burt turns up the volume on TV and Carole stops and looks at it.

"…_Soldier Finn Hudson from the 'terrorist ship hijack' has been found, he arrived back in Ohio just an hour ago where his condition is critical and is now being brought to hospital..."_

Carole processes the information and picks up her phone as it rings.

"Carole?"

"This is she."

"This is Will Schuster, did you hear about Finn?"

"Yes, he was on the news!"

"Alright, let's head out to the hospital! Call Rachel and Kurt!"

Carole agrees and shuts her phone off and runs with Burt towards their car.

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Carole hyperventilates and turns on the air-con to cool herself off.

"He's safe, Carole." Burt says and squeezes his wife's hand in his own.

...

Rachel sees the ambulance coming and runs towards them.

"He's right there!" Rachel says and points the paramedics to her boyfriend. She watches as they carefully lift him up onto the stretcher and places an oxygen mask on his face.

"Are you riding with us?" a female paramedic asks and Wolf and Rachel climbs in the ambulance with Finn, while Santana, Gunnar and the Sergeant in the ambulance behind them.

"Finn, I'm right here." Rachel says and holds Finn's hand in her own. She can see from the window that media cars are chasing them and paparazzi's running behind them as they try to get a photo of Finn.

They finally arrive, the paramedics swiftly lift Finn's stretcher and pushes him into the hospital. Wolf's leg starts to burn and is loaded on a stretcher too, Santana and the Sergeant finally catches up to Rachel and run towards Finn.

…

Burt and Carole meet Mr Schue at the hospital and run up the stairs towards the receptionist.

"Finn Hudson?" Carole asks.

"He's in the emergency room at level ten." The woman says and the trio catches the lift up to level ten.

"God, I hope my baby is alright." Carole starts to tear up.

…

In the lift, Rachel can see Finn start to turn extremely pale and weak. Santana wraps her arms around Rachel, the doors open and the paramedics push Finn towards the emergency room. The Sergeant, Santana and Rachel wait on the seats in front of the emergency room.

Burt, Carole and Mr Schue come out of the lift and sees Rachel and Santana.

"Burt, Carole, Mr Schue?" Rachel asks and stands up to hug them.

"How long has it been?" Burt asks

"He just went in." Rachel replies. Burt shakes hands with the Sergeant and starts to walk off and talk.

"How did you guys find him?"

"We might have flown to Afghanistan." Santana answers

"What-"

The lift opens and Puck and Kurt come rushing out.

"We went to the War Office and saw the news. Where is he?" Puck asks.

"In the emergency room." Santana replies.

"So what now?" Kurt asks.

"We wait."

Hours pass and finally a doctor comes out from the emergency room.

"What's wrong?" Burt asks

"He has severe Septicaemia, but he arrived just in time to cure it."

"What the hell is Septicaemia?" Burt asks

"It's also known as blood poisoning, his body is fighting a severe infection that has spread via the bloodstream. He probably came in contact with an infected piece of metal or something whilst in Afghanistan."

"So that wound on his arm?" Rachel asks

"Yes, that is what caused the infection that led to Sepsis."

"Can we see him?" Carole asks.

"I'm sorry but only family can."

Carole, Burt and Kurt walks into the room and sees Finn on his hospital bed looking at them.

"Finn!" Carole says and runs over to her son. Finn looks ill, his face is pale, he has dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks are sunken in. His arm with the wound is in a sling and his broken foot is in a cast.

Carole gives Finn a kiss on his forehead and gently pulls him into a hug.

Burt comes and fist bumps Finn with his good arm and hugs him too.

Kurt starts to cry and immediately embraces Finn without hesitating.

"You are the best son a woman could have." Carole cries and holds Finn's hand.

"Trust me, those bastard terrorists were no match for you!" Burt jokes and pours Finn a glass of water.

Finn's eyes start to droop and Carole just smiles.

"We'll let him rest now."

Burt, Kurt and Carole decides to return home to pack a few things for Finn. Rachel, Santana and the Sergeant wait in the waiting room after Puck returns home to visit Finn tomorrow.

"Miss me?" a cheeky voice says and Rachel turns around to see Wolf walking towards them on crutches.

"Wolf!" Santana exclaims and runs over.

"How's that leg?" the Sergeant asks

"Pretty good, I just had to ask what type of gun the bullet came from and apparently it's a .357 SIG." Wolf says and knocks on his cast.

"Anyway, how's Finn?" Wolf asks.

"He's asleep."

"If you see him tonight, tell him I said hey. I kinda have to return back to my ward now so-" Wolf turns around and walks away.

"Told ya Wolf was a great kid!" The Sergeant says and returns to his car magazine.

"You can visit Finn now." The doctor says.

"You go first." Santana says. Rachel opens the door and sees Finn turn his head to look at her.

"I was waiting for you to come." Finn says

"They uh- just let me in." Rachel replies and sits on the chair next to Finn.

"I love you." Finn suddenly says and pulls Rachel towards his bed.

Rachel bends over and kisses Finn, she slides her hand under his head and runs her hand down his hair.

Finn touches Rachel's neck gently and after a few minutes of passionate kissing, Finn pulls away.

"Wow." Finn says and rubs his face.

Rachel sits back down in her chair.

"You know, whatever torture they put me through: I always thought of you and it helped me pass the pain." Finn says and lays his hand on her knee.

"I never stopped thinking about you." Rachel replies and kisses his hand.

"How do you feel about Cillian?" Rachel asks

"I don't know, how do I tell Puck?" Finn looks up at Rachel on the verge of tears.

"We'll tell him together." Rachel suggests.

"Can you stay here…with me?" Finn asks

Rachel nods and rests her head on Finn's bed, he turns off the light and never let Rachel's hand go.

…

_Whips, knifes, that water tub. The terrorists, the sergeant….cillian…blood…fever…sickness…darkness…ti redness…weakness…pain… unbearable pain._

Finn wakes up, telling himself that it's a dream won't help. He has been through a living nightmare; he knows these traumas won't be the only one to come.

He just hopes that the Captain of the terrorists will be captured, at night it's the worse. The darkness reminds him of the abandoned warehouse, any sudden sounds reminds him of the whip striking against his back and the secret of Puck's dad is eating him alive.

He knows that it's his fault that Cillian died, Cillian stood in front of Finn to protect him. Maybe if Finn stood in a different position, the Sergeant might be able to shoot the terrorist first…

He can still remember Cillian's dead body back in the headquarters, he's Puck's dad and Puck doesn't even know what he looks like or what he has done.

Finn touches Cillian's necklace around his neck, and looks at Rachel.

She looks so vulnerable and so precious, her hair sprawled out in all direction and her hand still enclosed with Finn's. He would be dead if it wasn't for her.

He wonders if Rachel feels like they are tethered, maybe that's the reason why she found him. It wasn't because the Sergeant pinpointed the right location: it was because Rachel knew deep down that he was still alive.

It's like they're tethered from the darkness.

"Finn? What time is it?" Rachel groggily asks.

"It's time to wake up." The doctor replies and enters the room. Rachel sits up and rubs her face.

The doctor helps Finn onto his wheelchair and pushes him towards the bathroom to clean his teeth.

Finn and the doctor comes out of the bathroom and tells him about his condition. Then the doctor helps Finn back onto his bed and gives him his breakfast, after the doctor leaves: Finn makes room in his bed for Rachel.

Rachel rests her head on Finn's shoulder while she eats breakfast.

Then the door opens and Santana, Wolf, the Sergeant and Mr Schue comes in.

"There's our Finn!" Santana says and walks over to hug her best friend.

"Good work soldier, I just got off the phone with the president and he says he wants to present you and Wolf with the MOH award." The sergeant says.

Wolf nods and smiles at Finn.

"What's the MOH?"

"The Medal of Honour, it's the highest military honour. Apparently, they are awarded for personal acts of valour above and beyond the call of duty." The Sergeant replies.

"Why?"

"Geez kid, can't you see you're a hero. Whatever they put you through, you never cracked and you effing volunteered yourself back on the ship to save my life."

"Hero? All I did was keep my mouth shut."

"Is he always this modest?" Wolf asks Rachel who kisses Finn.

"I can't wait to get that blue ribboned baby placed around my neck." Wolf says and does a small dance with his crutches.

"Guess, you changed your dad's status to a 'out of this world honourable status.'" Rachel reminds and Wolf nods his head and smiles.

"Well, I got off the phone with the glee club and they are coming tomorrow to sing you a song." Mr Schue says and clasps his hands together.

Finn nods and pulls Rachel closer.

_Maybe…just maybe things will return back the way it was…_


	12. Something to tell

Tethered from darkness

In the evening the next day, Mr Schue surprises Finn and walks into his ward.

"The New Directions have a song that they would like to sing for you." Mr Schue says and opens the door for his glee club.

"Finn, you are the bravest soldier. You overcame the obstacles and torture they threw at you with perseverance and determination." Blaine starts.

"And if you are ever in a situation where you feel that you have no one, remember that we will stand by you…always."

Finn smiles with Rachel and the New Directions start to sing 'I'll stand by you' by the Pretenders. Finn remembers when he thought Beth was his daughter and he stood in the auditorium and sang the song with Kurt playing piano in the background.

During the song, Rachel would give Finn a kiss and hold his hands.

_**I'll stand by you**_

Finn looks at Rachel, he knows that she never forgot about him and came to Afghanistan to find him with the Sergeant and Santana

_**Take me in into your darkest hour and I'll never desert you.**_

Rachel broke into the headquarters of dangerous terrorists and took care of him when he was dying of fever. She never once left him behind, when Cillian died: Rachel took Finn by the hand and led him out to safety.

It was as if someone took him by the shoulders and turned him towards Rachel Berry.

_**Won't let nobody hurt you**_

Finn remembered the moment he found out that the terrorists were going to find Rachel. He felt anger in him that could probably tear the world in two, no one will ever hurt Rachel. He will always be here to protect her from dangers and he knows she will too.

_**I'll stand by you**_

The New Directions finish their song and Marley walks over to Finn and hugs him, Jake and Ryder follows and fist bumps after Marley.

"Thankyou guys, I don't know what I would do without all of you." Finn says. Everyone starts to leave-

Finn sees Puck , he musters enough courage and calls out his name.

"Puck-"

"Yeah?" Finn's best friend turns around and struts towards him.

"I need to talk to you, it's kinda important." Finn says and feels around for Rachel's hand under the covers to give him strength to explain about Cillian.

Puck smiles and looks at Finn waiting for him to start.

Finn unclips the necklace from his neck and hands it to Puck. Puck flips it around and opens the locket attached to the end.

"What's this?" Puck asks

"It's uh-"

"Holy Crap! That's me, well at least I think that's me…where did you get this?"

"Um, I met your dad back at Afghanistan."

"Shut up, nice joke dude." Puck chuckles and hits Finn's arm playfully, but quickly stops when she sees how serious Finn and Rachel's faces are.

"Wait, what do you mean…you met him?"

"He was in the adjacent cell to me."

"Did he get out?" Puck asks and studies his father's face on the locket.

"That's the reason why I need to talk to you. You see…he passed away during the escape." Puck opens his mouth and rests his head on his arm.

"He died…" Puck chokes.

"He died to save me, he died a hero's death Puck. But the things is, before he died he told me to tell you that: he loves you, you mean everything to him and he is so sorry that he never was able to see you grow up to be the man you are today. He also said that he was proud to call you his son." Finn says and wipes away his tears when he remembers the moment Cillian said that to him.

"I mean…uh- i- I always thought he was a douche…" Puck says and holds the locket in his two hands. "But he saved you and he is the reason why you are here." Puck looks up and squeezes Finn's shoulder.

"Thanks for telling me Finn." Puck says and hugs Rachel

Finn then feels a burden have been lifted off his soldier, he sees Puck smiling as he looks at the only photo of his dad. Rachel turns his head towards her and gives Finn a kiss.

"So, when can you leave the hospital?" Puck asks and wears the necklace.

"In a couple of weeks."

"How's your arm dude? Did you get stitches?"

"It's alright, apparently the doc says that I've got twenty two."

Puck sucks air between his teeth.

"Ouch!"

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Finn smiles.

"Anyway, it's getting dark and I should probably head home." Puck digs his hands into his pockets and walks out the door. Finn gives him a small wave and sees Rachel come out of the bathroom wearing her pyjamas.

"The nurse pulled an extra bed in here for me to sleep in." Rachel says and kisses Finn goodnight before crawling into her covers.

Finn closes the light and sleeps on his bed.

…

_He is walking, walking up a flight of stairs. The atmosphere around him is cold, tense and has the smell of blood in the air._

_It seems like he needs to go somewhere but he doesn't know where…everything around him shakes and is unclear._

_He can see sealed doors and he wonders and is behind them…he feels something metallic collide with his back his knees buckle and he falls on the cold, cold ground. _

_He lifts up his hands to see that they are dripping with blood, he looks at his body and he realises that the blood is his._

_Suddenly, he hears a loud ear-piercing scream rip through the air, he bends forward on his knees and covers his ears. But he can still hear it, it seems like…the scream is inside his head._

_Make it stop…make…it…stop._

_When he opens his eyes, grey hands grab his neck. He is desperate to get away but the hands grip harder on his neck, he sees the man's face…the white eyes that protrude out of the dead._

_Let me go!_

_Let me go!_

"LET ME GO!" Finn wakes up screaming and crying. He bends over and puts his head on his good hand. He can still see the dead man in his dreams so vividly in his vision, Finn rubs his eyes and cries harder.

He sees Rachel get out of bed and run to him.

"FINN! Calm down, it's just a dream." She says and holds his face with her hands.

"No, it's not a dream, it's what happened in Afghanistan. I lived through it Rachel and it's haunting me!"

"Finn, you're having a trauma. What you've been through is anything but normal and we will get through it together."

"What happens if I never forget?"

"Then I'll be here to make sure you do."

Finn nods and hugs Rachel, she returns back to her bed but Finn can't sleep. He's afraid to go to bed and have that dream again. He's afraid of everything now.

He can't unsee what he has seen, he can't forget what he has lived through and he can't bring back the loved ones that have died for him. Finn lays in bed listening to the soft snores of Rachel, he counts the hours until morning and fiddles with his cast.

Every shadow reminds him of a terrorist, it's like they are hunting him down. He knows the Captain is still alive and he knows that he is probably after him…and Rachel. Finn just needs to be wary and protect Rachel for what is to come.


	13. The Medal of Honour

Tethered from darkness

"There we are." The Doctor says as he takes out the stitches in Finn's arm. "Are you excited?"

"For what?" Finn asks as he inspects the soft scar on his arm.

"I heard that you are receiving the MOH award from the president himself today."

"Yeah…"

"That's all you've got to say? You're a hero Mr Hudson."

"They all say that, but I don't really understand how keeping information to yourself is really heroic. Wolf deserves it though, he flew a friggin plane to Afghanistan to save a soldier."

"Fair enough." The doctor says and hands Finn his crutches. "Need help packing your bag?"

"Nah, thanks doc." Finn says and walks out of the room.

Finn was finally able to leave the hospital, but he still needed to lug his broken foot around with a set of crutches. He makes it to his room and takes out his clothes from the cupboard and stuffs it in his bag.

The Sergeant told him that the terrorists threw his Nationals Duffel bag overboard when they captured him. Finn was really upset when he found out but he doesn't really need a bag to remember his friends or his win at Nationals.

He changes his hospital clothes to a red checked t-shirt and jeans that his mom brought from home. Finn holds his backpack in his good arm and walks out of the ward.

"Looking good Finn!" The old man next to Finn's ward shouts out when Finn walks pass him to catch the lift.

"Thanks, see you Cole." Finn waves a goodbye and steps onto the lift; Finn sees Carole in the lobby and walks towards his mom.

"There's my darling boy!" Carole says and runs to help Finn, Finn trips on the stairs and falls when he accidentally crosses his crutches together, but Carole manages to catch him.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

Finn nods and walks over to the car.

"Where's Kurt and Burt?" Finn asks and tries to scratch under his cast.

"They're at home and are excited to see you."

"…And what about Rachel?"

"You'll see."

Finn smiles and rests his head on his arm as he looks out the window. The moment he enters the house, people clapping and cheering meet him.

"Finn's back!" A man calls

Finn side smiles and nods, he walks over to Kurt who hugs him.

"I got your stuff ready to head to Washington DC this afternoon." Kurt says

"Where's Rachel?" Finn asks under all the commotion of people talking and partying.

"She's upstairs."

Finn, with the help of Kurt walks upstairs and into his room. Rachel sits on his bed holding his football, she throws it gently at him and he catches it with one hand.

"No wonder you're the quarterback." Rachel says and Finn settles down his crutches and sits next to Rachel.

"So, meeting the president…" Rachel smirks.

"Yeah."

"You don't have to be modest around me."

"Oh really?" Finn lifts an eyebrow and props himself up with his elbows.

"Yes really." Rachel turns around and looks at Finn half lying on the bed. She stares at his beautiful brown eyes, his cheekbones and those adorable dimples, Rachel leans forward and their lips are about to touch-

"Finn! Rachel! Let's go, don't want to keep the president waiting." Wolf opens the door and shouts at the two lovebirds.

Rachel smiles and Finn rubs his eyes then they break into laughter.

Burt drives the trio to the airport and they meet the Sergeant there at the terminal.

"You know that we have to spend an hour with Wolf on the plane." Rachel says and sees Wolf juggling chips in his hands.

"Yeah well, he _did_ save our lives." Finn says.

Suddenly, a massive group of paparazzi runs up to Finn and shoves microphones, boom mics and notebooks near his face.

"Finn!"

"Over here!"

"This is for the daily news!"

"How did you feel when you were captured?"

"uh-." Finn replies as he turns around to another journalist.

"What were the punishments you had to go through?"

"Um-" Finn chokes and he feels the Sergeant pull him by his t-shirt towards the plane.

"God, I hate paparazzi's." The Sergeant frowns and helps Rachel lift up her luggage into the bag compartment.

"What time's the presentation?" Finn asks. Wolf turns towards him.

"It's at three."

"Okay." Finn takes a deep breath.

"Can you believe it though? That medal is like the highest military honour!" Wolf looks up at Finn and smiles

Suddenly, a man walks by wearing a t shirt with a bloody gun and Finn swiftly grabs Rachel's hand.

"Rachel." Finn whimpers and brings Rachel's attention to the gun covered with blood on the man's t-shirt. Rachel turns back to Finn and realises that small things such as a weapon or a printed t-shirt can trigger his memory back to the torturing.

"Finn, listen to me. It's not real, what you are experiencing is Post traumatic stress disorder." Rachel says and looks at Wolf for backup.

"You're safe now, those terrorists will never get you again." Wolf starts

"How can you be sure, we never killed the Captain?" Finn asks

"The Captain lives in the middle of nowhere, he can't possibly track us down." Wolf says.

Finn nods and runs his hand through his hair.

Maybe recovering won't be so easy after all.

…

Finn wakes up to the sound of the pilot speaking through the microphone.

"This is your captain speaking, we have arrived in Washington DC. The time is one o'clock, thankyou for choosing to fly with us."

"I do a better job of addressing passengers." Wolf jokes and puts away his magazine in the seat pouch.

"You slept through the entire flight." Rachel says and helps Finn with his crutches.

Finn looks at the reflective section of his phone to see dark circles under he eyes and his very dishevelled hair.

"How can I meet the president now?" Finn asks as he tries to flatten his stubborn hair.

Finn, Wolf and the Sergeant goes into the bathrooms to change into their uniforms for the presentation. Finn walks towards the mirror and starts to shape his hair to a point: like he always does.

Wolf stands next to Finn and washes his hands.

"The Girl bathrooms are so much cleaner." Wolf says and leans on the basin.

"…And you've been to the girl bathrooms?" The Sergeant asks

"…no…"

Finn, Wolf and the Sergeant finally walk out of the bathrooms to see Rachel talking with the president's chauffeur.

"Ready to go Mr Hudson?" The chauffeur asks.

"You can call me Finn if you like."

"I'm sorry, I need to address you by the name Mr Hudson."

They climb into the car and drive towards the White House. During the drive, Finn smooths his hair, ties his shoelace, checks and re-checks his uniform-

"You look handsome, Finn." Rachel says to stop Finn's fidgeting.

"We are here."

Wolf looks out of the window like a little kid and smiles.

"Dude, the White House is really white." Wolf says and the Sergeant pulls him back down in his seat. For some reason, Wolf kinda reminds Finn of Puck. The Chauffeur parks the car in the front of the Whitehouse and holds Finn's crutches in front of him.

"Thankyou." Finn says and places them under his arms.

They walk past the lush green lawn and into the house where a couple of guards lead them into the presentation room.

After people file in, the guards tell Finn and Wolf to sit on the stage as the ceremony begins. The media stands in the back and everyone starts to quieten down. Finn looks at Rachel who gives him a small thumbs up and gestures for him to smile, he wipes the sweat from his hands on his uniform and looks at Wolf.

He looks at the people sitting down on the left with the MOH medals around their neck, these are the people that have saved their fellow soldiers from burning trucks or terrorists.

The doors open and the president walks in.

"Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the White House, as we present our nation's highest military declaration: The Medal of Honour, to two extraordinary American soldiers: Soldier Floyd 'Wolf' Weeks and Soldier Finn Hudson."

Rachel smiles broadly when she hears Finn's name being called out. People tell Finn that he will feel proud of himself when he hears his name…but he doesn't feel any different, is it because he doesn't think that he's a hero. People are telling him he is, but he isn't any different from the soldiers out there fighting a war.

"Soldier Weeks: the recipient of the Medal of Honour, I have to say that this could not be happening to a nicer and inspiring man."

"Now, Soldier Finn Hudson-"

Finn sits up from his seat and looks at the president.

"Hudson, the medal of honour reflects our entire nation's deepest gratitude. So we are joined by members of Congress, Vice president, leaders from across my administration and leaders from across our armed forces including the vice chairman, army secretary and army chief of staff. And as always, we are humbled by the presence of the members of the Medal of Honour society."

Finn looks at the different coloured flags behind the president and the emblem situated on the front of the podium.

"Today, we honour a singular act of gallantry, the service of Soldier Finn Hudson reflects the very essence of America that speaks: 'however hard the journey, however steep the climb, we do not quit."

"Finn Hudson had many injuries and was diagnosed with severe sepsis from the torturing of the terrorists but he pushed on to keep our country safe. This is the actions that keep our country safe, this is the strength, the devotion that makes our soldiers the pride of every American and this is the reason why Finn Hudson makes our country stronger, so please join me in saluting our heroes Floyd Weeks and Finn Hudson."

Wolf stands up and after looking at Rachel: Finn stands too. He can see his girlfriend start to tear up and she fishes in her bag for a tissue.

Everyone starts to clap and the president walks towards them.

Finn closes his eyes and it feels like he on the stage back in Chicago where they had one Nationals and are soaking up the applause…

_In first place, all the way from Ohio: the New Directions!"_

The President shakes Wolf's hand first and says something that Finn can't quite make out and then he looks at Finn. He takes Finn's hand and shakes it, he then holds his arm.

"You are a hero to our country and I am grateful that there are soldiers like you that capture the essence of our nation."

Finn smiles and looks at the audience who claps louder every second.

Two men stand up and hold up the medals.

The President then faces the audience and another person starts talking.

"The President of the United states of America authorised by 'Act of Congress' has awarded in the name of congress, the medal of honour to: Soldier Floyd Weeks and Finn Hudson of the United States Army, who have distinguished themselves by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy.

Soldier Finn Hudson volunteered his own life to the dangers of terrorists, he faced torture and was heavily wounded by the terrorists but never spoke about the secrets that lie beneath our country, because of his gallant act: he saved the soldiers of the United States Army from the terrorists of Afghanistan."

The man hands the president the first medal and Wolf turns around for it to be tied around his neck, he then takes the second and walks over to Finn. Finn copies Wolf and turns himself around with the help of his crutches and lets the president tie the blue ribbon around his neck.

"Please applaud these fellow soldiers."

Everyone in the room starts to clap and Finn and see Rachel clap a million claps per second and crying when she sees Finn with the medal around his neck.

The audience never stops clapping, suddenly Finn starts to feel something.

Finn starts to tear up and he mouths a thankyou to the audience. Wolf smiles broadly and winks at Rachel. The president comes over to Finn and gives him a small hug.

"Thankyou." Finn says through his crying and he looks back at the audience, but he feels like there is something eating inside of him. Cillian.

"Is there anything you would like to say?" The president asks. Wolf shakes his head and everyone looks at Finn who walks over to the Podium.

"Um, thankyou for the Medal of Honour but if I don't say this, I'm afraid I will never live with myself… Cillian Puckerman-"

Everyone looks at him with a confused face.

"I want to share my medal with Cillian Puckerman, he showed much more gallantry and intrepidity then me. He is the hero…not me, he stepped in front of a bullet to save my life and without him…I wouldn't be here.

His actions reflect on America, heroes are everywhere: they may be the people you meet on the streets, your friends or even your neighbours: but some never get noticed for what they do. Before today, many people in this room have never even heard of Cillian Puckerman: but I am here to tell you that he is a greater hero than me and that he deserves the award."

Everyone looks at Finn, the President starts to clap at Finn's words and the audience follows.

'Thankyou Cillian.' Finn thinks

"This concludes the MOH presentation."

Everyone starts to forward out, Rachel runs out of the rows of seats and hugs Finn.

"Cillian and I are very proud of you." Rachel says and kisses Finn's cheek.

The Sergeant walks out from his seat and shakes hands with Finn and Wolf.

"We have two people who want to meet you." The Sergeant says and leads Finn out of the presentation room.

Finn then sees Bomber and Hammer walk towards him.

"Oh no," Finn thinks when he sees Bomber carrying food in his hands. 'He's going to throw it at my face. ' Finn thinks and closes his eyes and-

Bomber hugs him?

Finn looks at Bomber and pats his back.

"I thought you were going to die." Bomber says and pulls away.

"Seriously, we're sorry. When the terrorists took you away, everyone on the boat just stared at the Sergeant with a dumbstruck face."

"No joke! There was like ten minutes of utter silence, no one said a word!" Hammer continues

"It's nice to have to back, Finn!" Bomber says and touches Finn's arm.

"Alright, time to head back to Ohio." The Sergeant says, in the airport when they wait for their flight. Finn changes back into his casual clothes and packs his medal in his bag.

"Dude, you are like the most modest guy in the entire world." Wolf says and points to Finn.

Rachel wraps her arms around Finn's and rests her head on his biceps.

Then his phone rings.

"Hello? Mom?"

"Finn, I saw you on television and I am so proud of you!"

"Thanks mom."  
"You even made Burt cry!"

"Flight AA82 to the boarding area."

"Mom, our flight is here. I'll talk to you when I arrive."

"Alright have a safe flight. Love you darling."

"Love you mom."

Finn sits next to Rachel and the Sergeant in the four-seater in the middle section. During the flight, a stewardess walks up to Finn.

"Excuse me-"

Finn takes his headphones off and looks at the stewardess

"Are you Finn Hudson?"

"Yeah I am"

"My son thinks you're his hero…can I have a picture and your autograph?"

"Sure…" Finn says and uses the vomit bag to write his signature on it, the stewardess leans closer to Finn and takes a picture.

"Thank you so much!" The Stewardess says and walks away.

"Dude, I told you that you're a hero." Wolf says and playfully hits Finn's arm with his magazine.

_The President says he is, his friends and families says he is… then maybe he is a hero._

…

Hi, thankyou so much for the reviews and views. There is still so much more to come for Finn and Rachel in this story so stay tuned! :)


	14. Seeing Evil

Tethered from darkness

They finally arrive in Ohio and Finn helps Rachel with her luggage by holding it over his crutches. He remembers his second day in Glee club and he helped Rachel with her bag: she said that he was chivalrous and he didn't know what that word meant.

They walk into the garage and sees Burt waiting for them.

"Made us proud, you two." Burt says and nods towards Wolf and Finn.

"So, we're dropping Rachel off first, then the sergeant."

"What about Wolf?" Finn asks

"Oh, he's bunking with us for a couple of nights."

Finn looks at Rachel and puts on a sad face.

"Sorry, my dads wanted me to stay at home with them. So I said yes." Rachel says and places her hand on top of Finn's.

"Okay, but you and I are spending quality time together afterwards." Finn replies and lifts Rachel's hands up.

Rachel laughs and starts to text her dad, Finn looks out the window and-

No-

It can't be-

The Captain, standing in the middle of the garage-

Finn turns away and opens his mouth in shock. He then slowly turns around-

The Captain is gone-

What?-

Finn turns around to look at the back window-

It's like he just vanished into thin air…

"You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Wolf says and looks at Finn.

"No no I'm fine." Finn says and turns around once more.

'It must be PTSD, it can't be the Captain.' Finn thinks and shakes his head.

Burt finally arrives at Rachel's house.

"See you later miss Berry." Burt says, Finn climbs out of the car on his crutches to walk Rachel into her house.

Rachel knocks on the door and Hiram opens it.

"Finn." He says and pulls him into a hug. "Glad you're safe."

"Thanks Mr Berry."

Rachel kisses Finn and says goodbye before closing the door. Finn touches the part of his face where Rachel had kissed him, he then walks towards the car.

"Where's the Sergeant?" Finn asks

"He uh- walked home, apparently his house is just a couple streets from here." Burt replies.

Wolf helps Finn into the car before Burt starts it.

"Puck's staying over tonight too: It'll be fun, we'll just sit on the couch and watch the footie while Kurt and Carole read Vogue magazines...or something"

'Puck's coming over? Wolf and Puck? He certainly won't be able to sleep tonight.' Finn thinks.

…

Finn opens the front door to see Puck and Kurt talking in the lounge room.

'Hudson!" Puck calls and runs over to Finn

"Nice to see you too." Finn says and walks into the house, Burt kicks off his shoes and settles down to watch football. Wolf fills a bowl full of chips and settles down next to Puck and Finn.

Kurt realises that it's a football gathering and quickly stands up to look for Carole.

"Kurt? Aren't you going to watch?" Burt asks

"Nup, I am not watching football."

Finn folds his arms and stares at the screen-

He saw the Captain-

He was there, right in front of his face-

It must be fake, the Captain can't possibly track him dow-

"No way, The New York Giants are the best." Burt says

"Have you seen the Jets? They are the bomb!" Puck refutes "Wolf, help me out here man."

"I think the Cincinnati Bengals thumps the Giants and Jets." Wolf states.

"Finn, who's right?" Burt asks and snaps Finn out of his thoughts.

"I don't know." Finn says and wraps his arms around a cushion.

"No, you know which football team is the best? The McKinley High Titans!" Puck says and high fives Finn. "We won the state championships man!"

"You guys play?" Wolf asks

"When we were in high school, this guy used to be the Quarterback." Puck says and points to Finn.

"I used to be the kicker." Wolf says and turns to look at the game.

"Kurt! Wolf used to be a kicker for football, you and him should talk!" Burt mocks and laughs with Wolf and Puck.

"He was faking it, he fell by himself!" Puck yells and points at the tv

"That damn ref." Burt swears

…

The game finally ends and Kurt comes back downstairs to eat dinner.

Kurt sits next to Finn while Burt, Wolf and Puck talk about football statistics.

"They're act like boys." Kurt says,

Finn laughs.

"I think they are boys, Kurt."

"You know what I mean!"

Finn returns back in his meal, he thinks about the Captain: which makes him shiver.

"Are you okay, I know you've been through a nightmare but you seem quiet today?"

"I thought I saw- never mind…I'm fine." Finn finally says and side smiles at Kurt.

Puck and Wolf pull in two mattresses to Finn's room and push them away from each other.

"Dude, if we join the mattresses together it's like we're sharing a bed: and that's confirmed gay." Puck says and jumps onto his mattress.

Wolf nods his head in agreement and looks at his leg where the bullet went in.

"I kept the bullet you know." Wolf says.

"Why? I mean, where is it now?" Finn asks

"In my pocket." Wolf says and holds out a zip lock bag with a bullet in it.

"Shut up, this was in your leg?" Puck asks and snatches the bag. "Dude, that's friggin huge!"

"Yep, it was wedged between two effing bones!"

Finn shakes his head at his two friends and turns off the lights near him.

"Alright, talk to you later guys." Finn says and pulls the covers up to his neck, to block out Puck and Wolf talking.

'Goodnight Rachel.' He thinks, everything around him seems to quieten down and before he knows it, his tiredness takes over him.

…

_The sky is blood red, the sounds of innocent people screaming and gun fires going off around him. He tries to get up, but it seems like he's paralysed on the floor…_

_He sees a black figure in the distance…he can't make out his face._

_The figure walks towards him: holding something in his hand. Suddenly, the silhouette looks eerily dangerous. The man pulls out a sharp knife and plunges it down-_

Finn jolts from his bed into an upright position, he looks around to see light creeping in through the gaps in the blinds. He starts to hate the nightmares that happen.

He sits on his bed and wipes the sweat from his face, he sees Puck sprawled across his bed and tries to calm his breathing.

After drinking water, Finn kicks his blanket away to go to the bathroom.

He walks towards the bathroom to see that it's locked.

"Anyone in there?" Finn asks and pounds on the door.

"Finn? Oh yeah nearly done." Wolf calls out and opens the door.

"It's all yours buddy!" Wolf says and walks downstairs to eat breakfast, Finn runs and uses the toilet and brushes his teeth before walking downstairs.

He sees Burt, Kurt and Wolf sitting on the bench top with Carole bringing them pancakes.

Burt finishes and stands up to let Finn sit.

"Gotta head over to the garage now. See you." Burt says. Finn then thinks about the Captain stalking Burt.

"Be careful!" Finn shouts, Burt looks at him with a confused face and Wolf, Kurt and Carole turn to look at Finn.

"Thanks?" Burt says before leaving the house

Finn sits down and grabs a plate.

"What are you boys planning to do?" Carole asks

Finn sees Puck run down the stairs to steal a pancake from Wolf.

"Why don't we head to the park?" Wolf asks and points at Finn's football on the ground.

"Oh, I promised Rachel I woul-"

"She can come too, we'll just pick her up on the way. I'm sure you and her can have a nice walk in the park." Puck says.

"But-"

"And we'll stay away from you guys." Puck interrupts

Finn reluctantly agrees and Wolf, Puck and himself walk to pick up Rachel.

Rachel opens the door and hugs Finn.

"Oh, hi Wolf and Puck." She says and holds onto Finn's hand. Wolf and Puck run in front to give them space to talk and act all 'lovey-dovey.'

"How are you?" Rachel asks.

"Um…good."

Rachel knows there's something up with Finn, but she can't quite put her finger on it.

They finally arrive at the park and Wolf and Puck run onto the grass to play catch, Finn and Rachel walk along the wharf holding hands.

"Since I'm getting my cast off tomorrow, I was thinking if you want to go out to dinner with me. I found this really cool Italian restaurant that serves Vegan stuff." Finn asks.

"Great, I'll be there are eight."

"…and maybe you can come over."

"Okay."

Finn stops walking and looks at Rachel, he leans closer to her and covers her mouth with his, in a passionate kiss. Rachel hugs Finn closely and places her hands on his neck, She opens her eyes to see the freckles scattered upon Finn's nose and his long eyelashes from his closed eyes.

Finn opens his eyes and suddenly-

The Captain-

Standing next to a tree-

Finn lets out a strangled cry and pulls away-

"Finn, what's wrong?"

Finn opens his eyes and looks pass Rachel to where the Captain stood.

"You saw something…didn't you."

"It's probably PTSD." Finn says and grabs Rachel by the hand to lead her away from the tree.

They finally see Wolf and Puck tackling each other to grab the football.

"Guys, we should head home." Finn says

"Geez, when did you start to become an old man?" Puck jokes and straightens his jacket. Wolf pulls on his hoodie that messes up his blonde hair and runs with Puck towards Rachel's house.

Finn walks Rachel up to her doorstep, he knows that she will be safe when she is inside her house.

"Finn, I can stay out here by myself. I know the area."

"Nup, not a chance." Finn says and sits down on the porch bench.

"Nothing's going get me." Rachel says and sits down next to Finn.

"Finn, you coming?" Wolf asks

"Hurry up man, CSI is going to start." Puck shouts

"You watch CSI?" Wolf lifts an eyebrow

"Have you seen the female cops?... MILF!" Puck states and looks back at Finn.

"You guys can go on without me, I'll see you back at the house." Finn says.

After waiting for an hour, Leroy and Hiram arrive back at the Berry House.

"Thanks Finn, for looking after Rachel." Leroy says and helps Finn with his crutches.

"See you tomorrow." Finn says and leaves.

Finn walks by himself, he knows that it's probably not safe to roam the streets of Ohio at night: especially with the alcoholics and junkies in the town, but he needed to stay behind to look after Rachel. The Captain keeps appearing everywhere, whether he is a hallucination or an actual person. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Finn takes the shortcut and turns into a dark street, the place looks so friendly in the morning but so eerie at night. Suddenly, Finn feels someone tap his back. Finn turns around to see the Captain.

Finn drops his crutches and lands on his elbows: giving them a huge graze. Finn cuddles his legs with his face hidden in the middle.

'Please go away, please go away, please go away.' Finn starts to cry.

Finn read the symptoms of PTSD back in the hospital when the doctor gave him a pamphlet. He knows that a person can trigger the traumas from feelings of intense distress or by having dreams and flashbacks in your sleep. But it feels like his nightmares appear when he is not sleeping.

Finn starts to grip his hair, he doesn't understand. Are the people in his dreams hunting him down or is this something different?

"Finn?"

Finn feels gentle hands on his shoulders and he lifts up his face to see his school counsellor.

"Miss Pillsbury?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was walking home and-"

Finn thinks about his encounter with the Captain, he could see his pale eye and the enormous scar starting from his forehead all the way down to his lip.

"…Why are _you_ here Miss Pillsbury?"

"I was driving to your house to give you a 'welcome home' present from Mr Schue and I heard someone crying."

Finn looks up and drags his crutches towards him.

"Can you drive me home, Miss Pillsbury?" Finn asks, hoping to not meet the Captain again.

"Yes, absolutely!"

Miss Pillsbury helps Finn stand up and walks him to her car.

"Are you having flashbacks Finn or nightmares?"

Is being able to feel the people in your dreams normal?

"Yeah, I am."

"You have PTSD Finn, it's important to seek help right away. The sooner it's confronted the easier it is to overcome. Post-traumatic stress disorder is not a sign of weakness Finn, the only way to beat it is to accept your past and move on. But if you try to numb yourself or push those memories away, it will only get worse."

Finn looks at his scar on his arm, what happens if he tries to confront it and it doesn't work?

Miss Pillsbury pulls up to Finn's house to see Wolf and Puck pacing on the doorstep.

"Dude where the eff have you been?" Puck asks.

"Are you cheating on Rachel?" Wolf interrupts when he sees Miss Pillsbury behind Finn.

"Wait, you're cheating on Rachel with Miss Pillsbury? What would Mr Schue think if he finds out about this? That's not cool man and frankly it's quite disgusting!"

"Puck-"

"She is like friggin thirty years old and you're nineteen, that would make her like a cougar. What are you thinking?" Puck continues.

"Shut up you guys, I'm not cheating on Rachel with the school counsellor. Miss Pillsbury found me and drove me home." Finn explains and mouths 'I'm sorry' to a flustered miss Pillsbury.

Miss Pillsbury hands Finn the present and says goodbye.

Finn gives her a small wave and looks at Puck and Wolf.

"What? People make mistakes." Puck says and stares at the ground.

"Sorry dude." Wolf apologizes and opens the door for Finn.

"Want to watch some reruns of Supernatural?" Wolf asks and settles on the couch with Puck.

"I'll pass." Finn says and heaves himself up the stairs.

"Really? Come one it's the vampire episode." Wolf urges

Finn lazily brushes his teeth and slumps onto his bed. He turns off the light and pulls the cover above his head, if the Captain is standing on the end of his bed: he doesn't want to see.

'Come on, go to sleep.' Finn says and puts his head under his pillow.

…

_The captain… right in front of his face. His left eye is pale and has no colour, he has a scar from his forehead to the bottom of his lip. He closes his eyes but he can still see the Captain vividly in his imagination. The Captain stretches his long bony hands to grab him, he tries to run but he doesn't move._

_The scar on the Captain rips and blood gushes out, it spreads on his face and drips on the ground. The ground is stained with blood and the red liquid starts to crawl towards him._

"_No!"_

"_No!"_

"_NO!"_

Finn wakes up and hits the blanket away from his face, and then he begins to hyperventilate.

Finn can't breathe, he unbuttons his pyjamas up to where his chest ends and tries to stand up to make his way to the bathroom.

Finn locks the door and turns on the light.

He can see his pale, grey face and his dishevelled hair. He looks at his hands to see that they are shaking uncontrollably: he doesn't feel the same anymore…like he's a completely different person.

His neck starts to ache and his pyjamas become tight around his torso. He rips his top off and discards them on the floor; Finn leans on the sink and splashes water on his face.

He breathes in little breaths but he never manages to get a full hit of air into his lungs. It's like his suffocating.

After sitting on the toilet lid. Finn walks towards his bedroom, he doesn't have the energy to bend over to pick up his pyjamas anymore.

He lies on the bed listening to the loud snores of Puck and Wolf; their presence is the only thing keeping Finn from feeling alienated and alone.

He hopes that they stay here for a while.


	15. Go away

Tethered from darkness

"Finn?"

He wakes up to see Wolf and Puck standing next to his bed.

"Do you sleep walk or something?" Wolf asks

"I effing tripped on your pyjamas in the bathroom, how did they get there?" Puck says and shows Finn his bruise.

"I don't know." Finn lies and heaves himself off the bed, "What time is it?"

"It's eleven." Wolf says and looks at Finn walking clumsily towards the bathroom.

"We'll meet your downstairs then." Puck finally says.

After brushing his teeth and finding himself a new t-shirt to wear, Finn walks down stairs and sees Kurt sitting on the couch all by himself.

"Where's Wolf and Puck?" Finn asks

"They decided to go for a run."

Finn sits down next to Kurt with a bowl of cereal.

"Kurt?"

"What's up?"

"Can you leave the house at nine?"

"Why?"

"Rachel is coming over and-"

"Huh? Oh…yeah sure, I'll just go to Blaine's then." Kurt says and lifts up his eyebrows.

"Thanks, I'll owe you one dude."

Finn takes out his phone to send a text to Rachel.

'_Hey Rach, what time should I pick you up?'_

'_Maybe seven thirty?'_

'_Okay, see you then.'_

'_Love you.'_

'_Love you more.'_

So, seven thirty. Finn takes a deep breath to calm his excitement. He can't wait to see Rachel for their date tonight.

"Finn, you have your appointment now with the doctor." Carole reminds and Finn heaves himself upstairs to get changed.

He waits for his turn in the hospital and watches the nurses and doctors running from one ward to the next.

He doesn't remember the time he was rushed to the hospital after he had arrived back in Ohio from Afghanistan, maybe he blacked out or something? Rachel told him that he couldn't breathe and an oxygen mask had to be put on his face.

"Finn Hudson?" The doctor calls and Finn walks towards him with his crutches.

"How are you?" The doctor asks as Finn sits on the bed.

"Okay, I guess."

"I saw you on television, Cillian Puckerman is Puck's father?"

"Yeah he is."

The doctor nods, he then gently positions Finn's leg in the x-ray to check his bone.

"Nice." The doctor says as he studies the photo. "Ready to get that thing off?"

"Yep."

The Doctor grabs a saw and places it above the cast. Finn knows that if he looks at the saw: his traumas will start again, Finn looks away but he can feel the vibrations moving up and down his leg.

He can hear the cast start to crack and break apart.

Finn looks back and sees that his foot is paler than the rest of his body, the doctor comes over and starts to begin activity on his foot to check the pain level.

"It's healed up nicely!"

"Thanks doc." Finn says and leaves the hospital after the doctor gives him instructions on his fragile foot.

A couple of hours pass and Finn wears his blue fitted collared shirts with jeans. He drives towards the local florist to buy Rachel a bunch of Peonies before driving to her house.

He waits in the driveway for Rachel and checks the mirror-

He then sees Rachel walk down the stairs towards him wearing a dark blue dress, he was so mesmerised by her beauty that he almost forgot to open unlock the door.

"You look- You uh-"

"You too." Rachel finishes his sentence, Finn gets out of his car and hands Rachel the flowers he bought.

"Finn, these are beautiful!" Rachel says and smells the flowers

"Are you ready for our date?" Finn says and opens the door for Rachel.

Finn shuts the door and reverses from the driveway.

"This is going to be fun!" Rachel squeals as she holds onto Finn's left arm.

"You took your cast off today!"

"Yeah, I get my leg back now." Finn jokes and pulls into the parking lot of the restaurant.

Finn gets out of the car and opens the door for Rachel, she hugs his arm as they walk towards the Italian restaurant.

"It's nice." Rachel says after they find an empty table.

"Yeah, it is." Finn says and looks around the restaurant.

"What time did you get back home?"

Finn immediately thinks about the Captain and tenses up. He grabs the corner of the table cloth and scrunches his face.

"Finn? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Finn exhales and nervously smiles, he then looks at Rachel. During the dinner, people would come up to Finn to ask for his autograph or a picture. It would get annoying when he would have to interrupt a conversation with Rachel to sign someone's arm or tshirt.

"You're like a celebrity." Rachel says when Finn turns back from a photo.

"Now I know why some celebrities look so depressed when they go to red carpet awards."

Finn takes a bite into his pizza and leans on his arms.

"When should we go back to New York?" Finn asks

"I don't know, maybe soon. I kinda miss NYADA."

"What about your dance teacher Ms July?"

"What about her?"

"Isn't she a bit, you know…mean?"

"She's actually a great person once you get to meet her."

"Do explain." Finn says and looks at Rachel with a confused face, one moment she is complaining about Ms July being a massive bitch and now she is saying that she's a wonderful person?

"Did you know that her boyfriend was in the military?"

"Really?" Finn asks as he bites into his bread roll.

"Well, on one of his lookouts he ran over a landmine."

Finn stops eating and looks at Rachel.

"That's why she always acts like…the way she acts, she says that it's a way of protecting herself."

Finn puts his food down; he knows why Rachel is telling him the story. She doesn't want to go through the pain of losing Finn again.

"She told me this story the day after the Captain sent us the ransom video."

Finn remembers when the Captain was shooting the video, his body was so weak after the waterboarding torture that he was laying on the ground, while the Captain kicked him around like a rag doll.

"Who watched it?" Finn asks and he feels a slight tingle on his back from where the Captain had kicked him.

"Me, Kurt, Carole, Burt, Santana and Mr Intrator from the bloody war office."

Finn holds Rachel's hand and kisses them.

"I promise I would never leave you again."

"Pinkie swear?" Rachel smiles and locks her finger with Finn's.

Finn and Rachel walk back into his car after they had finished.

"Thanks for paying Finn." Rachel says and walks slower.

"The guy always pays on a date."

"You're such a gentlemen."

Finn drives back to his house and walks up the steps slowly, he doesn't know if anyone is in the house and he certainly doesn't want Burt and Carole to walk in on them…otherwise he will never hear the end of it.

Rachel dumps her jacket on Finn's chair and lies on his bed, Finn strips off his collared shirt and jeans: leaving him shirtless with boxers.

He hops next to Rachel and wraps his arms around her tiny frame, he kisses her soft lips and straddles her waist. Rachel always feels safe whenever his warm lips touch hers.

She trails her fingers onto his stomach and traces his abs, Rachel can feel Finn's body tense up. His heart beats faster against her chest and his breathing becomes ragged.

Finn's body warms up and start to sweat by the activity they were doing. She works her way into his mouth and feels the wetness of his tongue.

Rachel pushes Finn back on his pillow and sleeps next to him, he cradles her in his arms and puts his face on the crook of his neck. Everything about him was perfect, his smell, taste and the feel of him on her.

Rachel turns towards Finn and starts to stroke his hair, his dimples show as he smiles at her. The fire in the fireplace shines its orange light on Finn's face, she can see the sparkle in his eyes and he leans closer to Rachel.

"I love you." He says

"Me too."

Finn spoons Rachel and starts to sleep and before she knows it she closes her eyes and dozes off too.

…

Rachel wakes up to find Finn sitting at his desk with the laptop light illuminating his figure. She remembers the night before; she had never felt so much love for Finn.

Suddenly, she hears Burt and Carole walk towards Finn's room. Rachel tenses, she sees Finn reciprocate the look on his face and he starts to panic too.

He quickly wears a t-shirt and pants before smoothing out the bed and helping Rachel onto her feet.

"Finn? Are you in there?" Carole asks and knocks on the door.

"Yeah, give me a sec." Finn opens the door and smiles innocently.

"What's Rachel doing in there?" Burt asks to see Rachel sitting on his desk.

"She came earlier today when you guys were sleeping." Finn says and smiles at Burt.

"…Okay…" Burt replies and walks away. "I need you to help me out in the garage today."

"Yeah sure."

Rachel brushes her teeth with a spare toothbrush and walks down with Finn to the kitchen.

"Dude, what the hell?" Puck yells

"What?"

"You friggin locked the door, Wolf and I had to sleep on the couch!"

"Sorry." Finn apologizes, but he knows that it was worth it.

"When did Rachel come?" Wolf asks and waves a hello.

"This morning." Finn says when Carole looks up.

"Really? I didn't here anyone open the dor." Puck says and looks at Finn confused.

"No she did, you guys were in deep sleep." Finn says and leads Rachel away towards the dining table.

"That was close!" Rachel laughs

"But it was fun last night." Finn side smiles and whispers in her ear so Carole wouldn't hear.

"Do you want me to drop you off?" Finn asks and takes the keys

"Yeah thanks."

"I thought you said that Rachel just got here." Puck asks and lifts an eyebrow

"Her dads want her for some reason." Finn lies and rushes Rachel out of the house.

Finn walks Rachel to her house, she takes out her house keys and shuts the door after she says bye.

Finn turns to around and trips-

The Captain: five meters from his car-

Finn stares at the Captain and starts to breathe heavily. His hands are shaking violently, he lets out a frightened sob and forces himself to steady the steering wheel.

He turns the key and the car revs into life, Finn shifts the gear into drive and presses hard on the gas. He clutches the steering wheel with his left hand and holds his head up by his palm in the other.

'They are just flashbacks, people with PTSD will have flashbacks of events or kidnappers.' Finn sobs. 'But how come it's always the same flashback? How come it's the captain? Why not Cillian or the Sergeant?

Finn runs a hand through his hair in frustration; he then closes all the windows and locks all the doors.

"Stop following me!" Finn yells and checks the rear mirror, he nearly runs the red. Finn looks at the traffic light and shakes his leg.

'Come on.' Finn says and looks behind him again, the man in the car next to his looks at him like he's a deranged person.

Finn arrives back in his garage and presses the button to close the door immediately. He runs out and pulls the door open.

He arrives at home and shuts the door and slides down into a sitting position.

"Finn? Are you okay?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." Finn replies, Carole stops cooking and pokes her head from the kitchen to watch her son uncurl from his position with a pale face.

Finn frowns and walks towards Burt.

"Alright, let's go kiddos." Burt says and grabs Finn, Wolf and Puck by their shoulders and ushers them into the car.

Wolf and Puck talks throughout the trip to Burt's garage but Finn keeps looking behind him to see if the Captain is there.

"Finn, you seem jumpy." Burt says and looks at Finn at a red light.

"I am?" Finn gives a fake smile and crosses his arms.

"Dude, can't wait to get all greasy. I can't tell you how much I love cars." Wolf says and rubs his hands together. They arrive at 'Hummel tires and lube' and slip into overalls. Wolf starts to explore the garage by picking every piece of equipment there is and looking at it.

Finn sits on a crate and twirls a wrench in his hand.

"As long as I've got Rachel, nothing will harm me." Finn whispers to himself and watches Puck and Wolf surround a broken car as Burt explains the problem.

Why does everything bad have to happen to him, is he a bad luck magnet? It just _has _to be his military ship that gets hijacked. It _has _to be him that volunteers to the terrorists and it _has_ to be him that gets tortured by terrorists and suffer PTSD. Out of the millions of soldiers in the world: It _has _to be him.

Finn has heard people say: that you can't change your destiny because God has already planned it out for you. He remembers when he was dating Quinn, she told him that: God is perfect or that he knows best, but if God loves his children why does he make bad stuff happen to people that are good?

Maybe God doesn't like him, maybe getting captured by terrorists was God's punishment for him. But ever since Finn found out that Grilled Cheesus was fake and everything was a coincidence, he doesn't really believe in God…Cillian did though, but his God didn't protect him at his final hours.

Finn sits on the crate, deep in thought about his questions.

"Finn?" Burt asks

"What?"

"There's a customer, go see what he wants."

Finn nods and walks towards the customer.

"Hi, how may I help you?"

"I'm here to pick up my car."

Finn recognises the voice and looks up.

"Sergeant?" Finn smiles and shakes hand with the man.

"Hey there Finn!"

"Yeah hi, Wolf come see who it is."

Wolf comes bolting towards Finn when he sees the Sergeant. Wolf fist bumps the Sergeant and leans on the table.

"Is my car ready?" The Sergeant asks and smiles as Burt walks towards him.

"Yeah, I'll go drive it out." Burt says and runs to the back.

"I see you've got the cast off." The sergeant says and points to Finn's healed foot.

"Yeah, it feels lighter now."

The Sergeant's car stops in front and Burt hops out, the Sergeant pulls out his wallet but Finn's step father stops him.

"Free of charge." Burt says

"Are you sure-"

"Sergeant, you saved my kid. I owe you my life." Burt says and puts an arm around Finn. The Sergeant nods towards Burt and says goodbye before driving away.

"Alright, thanks for helping me out today." Burt says. Wolf and Puck start to walk home but Finn stays behind.

"Finn, you can go home if you like: the work here is done."

Finn imagines the Captain breaking into the garage and pointing a gun towards Burt.

"Finn, my workers are going to come in a minute. Go enjoy yourself."

Finn nods slowly and catches up with Puck and Wolf.

They start to walk home, Finn trails behind Wolf and Puck and looks down at his feet the entire way home. He didn't want to see the Captain or a flashback of him.

Maybe confronting your past is harder than Finn thought it would be.


	16. An unforgettable voice

Tethered from darkness

Rain patters loudly on the roof of Finn's bedroom and wakes him from his sleep; he feels around his bed for a pillow and shields his ears from the noise. He can still remember Rachel's warmth on him from last night and the corners of his mouth turn into a grin.

He finally decides to get up, Finn places one foot on the ground and slides off his bed, he runs a hand through his hair: making it more messy than it already is. It's been a couple of hours and Finn already misses his girlfriend. 

He makes his way down the stairs and realises how quiet the house is.

"Mom?" Finn asks and sits on the kitchen table, he then turns around to see a message stuck onto the fridge.

'_Good morning Finn, I decided to take the boys on an outing. I didn't want to wake you up because it looked like you needed the sleep. We will be back at 11pm, see you then._

_P.S Wolf went to get some food, he'll be back home soon._

_Carole _

Finn is kind of happy that his mum let him sleep in, he didn't have a nightmare last night and he wants to keep it that way. It's the first good night's rest that he has had for a long while. Plus Wolf is with him so staying at home won't be a total bore.

Finn pours milk onto his cereal and eats it quicker than he thought he would, he then sits on the sofa and flips through the channels. There is always nothing good to watch on Saturday morning, Finn sits on the floor and looks through his dvd collection.

Jaws-

Apollo 13-

James Bond-

The Artist-

The Artist? It must be Kurt's.

Finn then comes across a DVD; he holds it in his hands.

'Nationals 2012: New Directions.'

Finn puts the dvd in the slot and sits back on the couch.

The music starts for 'Edge of Glory' and Finn can see Santana, Tina and the Troubletones singing and dancing the number. During that performance he was backstage holding Rachel's hand and telling her that Ms Tibideaux would come. After watching the last musical number, Finn can do nothing but smile.

The rain starts to get lighter so he decides to take a walk in the nearby park, Finn grabs his jacket and opens the door.

He kicks a pebble on the path as he walks there and stuffs his hands down his pockets. He thinks about Rachel and sits on a park bench. He wants to see her again so badly, everything about her is so addictive.

Finn pulls out his phone and dials Rachel's number. He prays that it wouldn't go to voicemail so he can hear Rachel's voice instead of a computerised one.

'_Hi, this is Rachel Berry. I'm sorry I cannot take your call right now, please leave message at the tone along with your name and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thankyou.'_

"Hey Rachel, it's Finn. Um- I miss you…can we meet up today?"

Finn shuts his phone off; he looks at the sky and knows that the rain will come back again.

A young boy and his father runs onto the park and throws a football, Finn never had a close relationship with his father: they never played catch, talked to each other or even hung out at the movies. Heck, he didn't even know his father that well until his mother told him a big secret last year.

Finn watches the young boy tackle his dad on the ground and laugh together; Finn bends over and watches the father and son relationship. Is it good that Finn never knew his father before he died?

He then turns around and becomes face to face the captain, he then feels a massive punch to his right eye and knocks him out.

…

He can feel cold droplets of water falling on his face and neck. What happened?

"Excuse me? Are you alright?"

Finn sits up slowly and realises that he is lying in front of a tree, he lets out a groan and gently touches his black eye.

The Captain-

He punched him-

Or-

He was having a flashback and ran into a tree-

He doesn't remember or know how long he blacked out for.

The father places his hand on Finn's shoulder and hands him a bottle of water.

"Are you alright?"

The son squats next to Finn and adjusts his cap, the young boy reminds Finn of when he was young.

The boy smiles at Finn showing his uneven teeth and walks behind his father

Finn covers his eye with one hand and thanks the father and son, he walks back home and sees a visible black bruise forming around his eye when he looks at a reflective surface of someone's shop.

Finn walks up the steps and presses an ice pack to his face; he exhales and rests his head on his hand. The door swings open and Wolf walks in with his mouth full of chips.

"Good morning Fin- Whoa- what the hell happened?" Wolf asks and looks at Finn's eye.

"I ran into a tree."

"Um- how, I mean- they're so big?"

"I was having a flashback."

"Off?"

Finn takes a deep breath: "The Captain."

Wolf sits down next to Finn

"How long has this been going on?"

"Ever since I came back from Afghanistan."

"So about two months?"

"Yeah. I guess"

"Are you scared of him?"

"Should I be?" Finn asks

"I don't know, but…he isn't here in Ohio, your flashbacks and nightmares won't come true: they're not real Finn."

Finn lets the pack slip from his face.

"I don't know what to do Wolf."

"What do you mean?"

"He appears everywhere, nightmares happen when you're sleeping: but I've been having them when I'm awake. I see the Captain everyday and he always seems to come closer to me each time."

"Well whatever the case, I'll be here to help you." Wolf says

Finn nods and sits back on the chair.

"Where did everyone go to?"

"Heritage Park." Wolf replies and grabs a handful of chips.

"Wait, Puck went there too?"

"Yeah- weird right?"

Finn chuckles, Puck probably went there to kill bugs or something.

Then the phone rings, Wolf stands up to pick it up.

"Finn, it's for you."

Finn takes the phone and hears something that he will never forget.

"Hello Finn."

"No-"

"Miss me?"

"The Captain?" Finn chokes and Wolf lifts his eyebrows and walks closer to Finn to hear the conversation.

"Do you think that I would've just wasted away in my headquarters whilst you and your friends escaped?"

"How do you know where I live?"

"I've got eyes on the inside."

"What do you mean?"

"For a soldier, you really are dumb."

"I'm actually living in your house, in your room or even next to you."

Finn looks at Wolf and acts on his theory. Finn pushes Wolf on the wall and strangles him with the side of his arm.

"You work for the Captain don't you?"

"No Finn, I don't!" Wolf splutters and tries to get Finn's arm off his throat.

"Then what does the Captain mean by 'he is next to me!"

"I don't know what the Captain is talking about?"

"Don't lie, you work for him!"

"Finn-" Wolf says calmly "I don't"

Finn realises by the look of Wolf's face that his friend is telling the truth. He returns back to the Captain.

"It's not Wolf Finn, even though he would seem like a suspect of betrayal."

"How are you in the house?"

"Let me take you back to the last moment of your escape, you were on the plane and Wolf got shot. I needed something to track you guys down, can you remember the last thing that I did?"

Finn realises what the Captain is talking about.

"Wolf! Where's the fucking bullet!?"

"Right here, why?" Wolf holds the bullet in front of him and Finn snatches it. Finn then finds a large rock in the backyard and smashes the bullet into pieces, Wolf takes the phone and looks at Finn.

Finn looks up and kicks the bullet pieces away with anger.

"There's a tracker hidden in there…wasn't there." Wolf says.

"Not just a tracker…a camera." The Captain says when Finn puts him on loudspeaker.

Wolf shudders at the thought of the Captain watching them sleep and walking around the house through the lenses of the bullet. He should've just thrown it away back at the hospital, it's his fault…he should not have taken it.

"Congratulations, you figured it out." The Captain chuckles

"Why did you tell us about it, why ruin your plan?" Finn retorts

"Because, you figured it out too late."

"What the fuck do you mean!?" Finn shouts.

The Captain then plays a message into Finn's phone

'"_Hey Rachel, it's Finn. Um- I miss you…can we meet up today?"_

Finn grips on the phone harder and listens to the message he recorded earlier today to Rachel's phone.

"Maybe you should go check on your girl-"

Finn's heart drops and he smashes the phone on the floor and runs out of the house. The rain comes back heavier and soaks Finn's clothes as he sprints. His clothes cling to his skin and he starts to bawl.

'Don't hurt Rachel'

Please be safe-

Please be safe-

Please be safe!-

He can hear Wolf calling his name from behind him, but he can't afford to slow down. Rachel is in danger from the Captain…if the Captain has got her phone…what's he doing to her right now?

Finn pushes away the bad thinking and concentrates on getting to Rachel's house.

Finn turns a corner and slips on the wet ground, he grazes his knee on the concrete and winces as he gets up and continues running.

He can feel the blood run down his leg but he doesn't care, he needs to know if Rachel is okay.

Finn runs across a red light which makes a line of cars beep their horns at him, Finn finally makes it to Rachel's house to see the front window smashed and Rachel's Dad's car with numerous dents in it.

"Fuck!" Finn yells and knocks down the door.

"RACHEL!" Finn searches the massive house to find furniture and tupperware turned over and broken plates on the floor. Finn turns into the lounge room and drops to his feet.

Hiram and Leroy are lying on the floor with cloths covering their faces: they've been drugged! Finn kneels next to Leroy and slaps his face lightly.

"Come one Mr Berry wake Up!"

Finn gently moves Hiram's head from the wall and settles it gently on the floor.

No response, Finn walks around the broken glass that are all over the floor and runs upstairs. He cuts his hand on a shard of glass lying on parts of the banister and presses it against his shirt.

"Finn! Are you in here!?" Wolf calls and follows the droplets of blood from Finn's hand.

Wolf finally catches up with Finn and sees his friend's panicked face.

"I should've let her stay at my house." Finn says and opens the bathroom door to see if Rachel is in there.

Finn can see lamps thrown on the floor, whatever happened: the fight must've been intense if the whole Berry House is destroyed. Finn knocks down the door to Rachel's room and sees that her entire bedroom has been overturned.

Her bed is tipped over on its side, her desk broken in half and the corner has made a huge dent in the wall. Her clothes have been thrown all over the floor and her curtains have been ripped.

Finn's knees buckle and he falls to the floor holding his girlfriend's clothes. Once he looks up, Finn sees a note taped on the window.

'Come alone or I will kill your girl.' Finn turns over the note to see a map attached to the back.

"Wolf-."

"No you're not going alone, I'll just trail behind you. He won't see me!"

"He will Wolf: look, if I'm not back in a day you'll call the police."

"He might be bluffing!" Wolf splutters

"Better to be safe than sorry."

"Finn, you'll get hurt."

"So will Rachel if I don't go now."

Wolf looks up at the ceiling and breathes out loudly.

"Travelling alone towards a terrorist is not safe, Finn!"

Wolf realises that whatever he says won't change Finn's mind. It's his girlfriend that the Captain has taken.

Wolf takes a photo of the map and claps Finn's soldier.

"Just, don't tell my family when they get back. Say that I'm bunking with one of my friends."

"What happens if they ask for the name of your friend?"

"Um say that I've gone to Mike's."

"Alright…just bring her back."

Finn nods and runs out of the house.

"Finn!"

Finn turns around to see Wolf shouting from the bedroom

"Stay safe."

He then looks at the map and runs to the train station. The rain starts to pour heavily and the sky starts to get dark.

He knows that travelling to 'some place' at midnight isn't exactly the safest option. But the Captain might kill Rachel and he can't gamble the options.

Suddenly, five large men walks onto Finn's platform carrying wine bottles and a pocket knife. Finn knows that once the men see him they will attack him, even though he is in the army: he can't beat the crap out of five men, let alone a man holding a pen knife.

Finn hides behind a kiosk and waits for the train to come, suddenly the men stop talking and he feels himself being lifted off the ground.

'Shit!' Finn thinks and stares at the men, he then remembers the time when the Captain's men held him up to secure him against the wooden board. Finn then closes his eyes and shakes violently, he's having his traumas again.

"Oh, this little boy is scared." One of the men says and drops Finn on the ground. Finn curls himself into a ball and tries very hard to stop thinking about the terrorists. One of the men grabs onto Finn's shirt and without thinking Finn holds him by the shoulders and smashes his attacker on the ground.

"Whoa, is that how you want to play?" A man with a beard threatens and runs towards Finn. Finn gets up from his position and runs away towards the oncoming train.

The beard man grabs Finn's foot and trips him onto the ground. Finn tries to kick the man's face but he dodges every time.

The train comes into a stop and Finn knows that if no one goes on it, it will leave.

"Please let me go!" he shouts, he then uses his free leg and kicks the man on his throat. Finn runs onto the train and the door closes, he holds his hand and looks at the glass shards in it.

"You Fucker!" The men shouts and bangs their fists on the train door.

Finn slumps down into a singular seat and tries to get the shards out of his hand, he winces when his finger comes in contact with the wound.

He looks at the map and knows that he has to stop at Spencerville, he has heard that Spencerville is a small village in the Allen County. His mother told him that the population is 2,223: so if the Captain does anything bad to them, not many people will know…

Twenty minutes pass and the train driver talks into the speaker.

"Spencerville."

Finn gets off the train and he looks around. It's like he is in the middle of nowhere. Finn cautiously walks forward: following the map and he turns into an abandoned warehouse.

…It looks like the one he was held captive in… Finn then realises what the Captain is trying to do.

One of the interrogation methods is isolation. The Captain kept him isolated from other terrorists at the first headquarters and now the Captain is commanding him to travel alone and is sending him to Spencerville.

The Captain knows that it's never safe to go out at night in Lima Ohio, the drunks and bikies are out and the Captain knows that the men will remind Finn of the terrorists and lastly, bringing him to an abandoned warehouse…

It's like the Captain is recreating Finn's time as a prisoner and trying to make his PTSD worse, so saving Rachel will be hard for him. Finn finds a discarded piece of metal that has fallen from the fence and holds it in his hands as the only weapon.

Finn slowly opens the door and a loud creaking sound echoes through the warehouse.

The hair on Finn's arm stands up as the coldness of the warehouse envelops him.

"Rachel?" Finn whispers and grips the metal harder, he catches his wounded hand on a stray piece of furniture and winces at the sudden contact.

"Rachel?" Finn starts to panic as he walks up the stairs, it's like he is living in a horror film and a monster is looking at his every move. Finn can feel his heart beat faster and louder with every step and he quickens his pace.

He then hears a loud sob coming from the room in front of him. Finn steadies his shaking hand and opens the door to find Rachel lying on the floor crying.

"Rachel!" Finn says and his girlfriend turns around and embraces Finn.

"Let's get out of here!" Finn says and strokes Rachel's hair.

She starts to cry.

"It's alright, I'm here."

Rachel then stops and looks up with scared eyes.

"Rachel? What's wrong?"

Finn turns around and he sees the Captain standing over him holding a plank of wood in his hands. Finn tries to take it from the Captain but he is too slow, the Captain swings his weapon and smashes it on Finn's head-

Finn can hear the sound of a crunching bone under the wood-

"FINN!"

It was the last thing Finn hears before he falls too the ground and everything goes black.


	17. The last fight

Tethered from darkness

"FINN!" Rachel yells, her boyfriend drops to the ground with a deep gash on his head with blood flowing from the wound.

The Captain drops the plank on the ground and laughs at Rachel who quickly scurries over to an unconscious Finn. The Captain shuts the door and Rachel gently holds Finn's head on her lap.

"Finn?" Rachel asks and shakes his shoulders softly. She then feels Finn twitch under her hands and sees that he is slowly opening his eyes.

"Arghhh." Finn groans when he rubs his head on the ground. Rachel supports his back and helps him up.

"Where are we?" Finn asks and looks around

"Don't you remember? We're in a warehouse in Spencerville."

All the memories come flooding back to Finn and he remembers the Captain giving him a blow to the head. He leans on his hand and shouts, he lifts up his hand and sees the glass pieces.

"How did that happen?" Rachel asks and embraces Finn.

"I went to your house-"

"How are my dads?" Rachel interrupts when she remembers three men cornering her dads and drugging them with a wet cloth.

"They're asleep, God Rachel I was so scared: I didn't know where you were."

"We'll get out of here together, you and I. We will Finn." He can see the sheer determination in her eyes to survive, he holds her hand and was about to kiss his girlfriend on her forehead when the door swings open. The Captain and three men walk in.

"Nice to see the lovebirds are reunited." The Captain says and Finn pushes Rachel behind him. The Captain grabs Finn by the collar and pulls him away from Rachel. Four other terrorists come and grab Finn by his arms whilst the masked men from before hold Rachel.

"Let her go, it's me you want." Finn says when he looks at Rachel

"This seems awfully familiar, remember what you said back in the ship?"

"How could I forget?" Finn spits and the terrorists behind him hold his arms tighter.

The Captain walks over to Rachel and strokes her face.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Finn yells and he meets a powerful punch to his stomach, which elicits a loud groan from his mouth.

The Captain grabs Rachel's chin and points her towards Finn.

"Your girlfriend has a nice face, but it'll be ruined by the time I'm finished with her." The Captain says to Finn.

"Get your dirty hands off her!" Finn yells and a big muscular man that is twice the size of him steps forward and punches Finn: again and again and again…until Finn doubles over in agony and drops to the floor, spitting out blood from his mouth.

Rachel closes her eyes at her boyfriend's pain and looks away but the Captain holds her head towards Finn and kisses her mockingly.

"You fucking bastard!" Finn manages to say but he meets a kick to the side of his face. Finn rolls onto his back and starts to cough violently.

"Finn, if you hear me out: maybe you won't have to face any more pain." The terrorist lifts Finn up and throws him towards the Captain. The captain then pulls out a gun and points it at Finn.

"No!" Rachel yells and the man behind her pulls her hair back. The Captain pulls the trigger and moves the gun towards the terrorists that were holding Finn before.

The Captain just shot the men that worked for him!

"You're a sick man." Finn spits and looks up at the Captain.

"No, I'm actually a smart man."

"What?"

"I needed to track you down and I knew that most soldiers will have PTSD after being captured."

"What are you saying?"

The Captain chuckles

"Those 'visions' you had of me, weren't flashbacks…they were real. I knew that if you saw me, you would think that it's your PTSD and wouldn't care: it was the easiest way to spy on you."

"So every time I saw you-"

"I was actually there…watching you."

"And this morning-"

"You like that black eye Finn? Yeah I punched you and dragged you towards that tree, so it would seem that you had a flashback and smashed into it."

Finn wants to kick himself for his stupidity, he had a feeling that those visions of the Captain were real. When he first saw the Captain at the park when he and Rachel walked with Puck and Wolf, he had a feeling in his gut that it was real.

"You asked me to come here so you could tell me this?"

"No."

Finn painfully turns his head towards the Captain

"I'm going to give you two option."

Finn stares at the Captain

"Fight me or watch your girl die."

"What?" Finn yelps as he touches a tender part of his stomach.

"Your escape in Afghanistan was not entirely fair, it was six of you against me."

"And your point is?" Finn stares at the Captain with murderous eyes: six and against one? What about the terrorists that work for the Captain? It was more like: Six against thousands.

"I want a fight to the death with just the two of us." The Captain says and strokes his gun.

Finn's eyes widen at the command and looks at Rachel who mouths at him to not do it.

"What's the other option?" Finn asks and stands up with the support of the wall.

"We'll do, what we did to you back in Afghanistan: to your girlfriend."

Finn knows that he has to protect Rachel whatever the cost, he promised and swore he would.

"Okay, but if I win you let us both go." Finn says and looks at the terrorist behind Rachel. The Captain nods his head

"If Finn dies…you'll kill me too." Rachel interrupts and Finn looks at her and shakes his head.

"No-"

"Finn, I don't want a life without you."

Finn takes a deep breath and reluctantly nods.

"How do we decide when to start?" Finn asks and steadies himself on his feet.

"Maybe this." The Captain slaps Rachel's face and Finn runs and tackles the Captain.

"YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!" Finn yells and tries to punch the Captain. The Captain kicks Finn in the groin which makes him wince at the painful contact, Finn trips on the banister and they tumble down the stairs together in a heap, the Captain lands on top of Finn and punches his face until blood starts spewing from his nose.

The floor breaks and the Captain and Finn fall into the basement

Finn searches around him until he finds a stray piece of metal and hits the Captain with it.

Suddenly, Finn sees the terrorist that was holding Rachel, lead her into another room. The Captain lied! Even if he wins, the terrorist will just kill him and Rachel afterwards. He needs to get Rachel out of here right now!

Finn kicks the Captain out of the way, but the bastard dodges and slams Finn's back onto the sharp edge of the wooden staircase.

The Captain points his gun at Finn's chest and pulls the trigger.

'Click Click'

The gun is out of bullets and Finn breathes out a sigh of relief, The Captain then rams the gun onto Finn's already maimed head.

"FINN!" he hears Rachel call and he elbows the Captain in the stomach. Finn scurries up the staircase and stabs the terrorist with a sharp piece of metal hanging from the wall.

"We need to get out of here!" Finn yells and he suddenly falls to the floor clutching his waist. The Captain shoots a bullet and smiles when he sees that it had pierced Finn.

"Fuck!" Finn yells and looks at his bloody hand. He grabs Rachel and opens the window. Finn helps Rachel onto the balcony and they run down the metal stairs until they reach the bottom.

The Captain jumps from the fifth stair and shoots bullets from the gun everywhere. Finn hobbles with Rachel and yells whenever his waist throbs with agony from the bullet.

"Come on Finn, hang in there!" Rachel says and looks at her boyfriend. The sun starts to come up and only then could she see the full extent of Finn's injuries.

"Where are we running too?" Rachel asks

"The train station."

The Captain yells and quickens his running.

"Dammit!" Finn stops and Rachel looks at him with a worried face

"What's wrong?"

"The trains have already finished their shifts, the next one to come is at eight."

"That's like six hours from now, we can't possibly run for that long."

Finn looks around.

"But we can hide."

Finn finds a mechanics garage nearby and they run towards it. Finn rolls painfully into the garage and leads Rachel towards the back corner, Finn slides down and breathes heavily.

He stares at his bloody t-shirt and holds onto Rachel with his hand.

Rachel lifts up his t-shirt to see his stomach had turned black from the previous punches, she gently touches the large shiner on his face and strokes his cheek.

Finn finds a cloth nearby and puts pressure on his bullet wound.

"Rachel…"

"If I don't-"  
"Finn, you're going to make it…and right now we are going to rest."

Finn rests his head on his girlfriend's arms and closes his eyes.

…

Rachel and Finn wake up to the sound of a door slamming onto a wall.

"Finny, I know you're here." The Captain sings. Finn looks at the floor and realises that he has made a trail of blood from his waist. He points towards the back exit and pushes Rachel towards it.

The Captain cuts a corner and stands in front of them.

"Gotcha!" The Captain holds a knife in his hands, his eyes wide with madness and he smiles a dangerous smile.

Finn looks around for a way out and he sees a door that is open ajar next to the Captain. He then sees a metal lighter sitting on the table.

Finn grabs it and backs away from the Captain towards an oil drum.

"Rachel, you run towards that door when I tell you." Finn whispers and leads Rachel's gaze towards the open door.

Finn tips the oil drum and it leaks petrol onto the Captain.

"You think I'm allergic to petrol or something?" The Captain chuckles and mocks Finn by covering his face with it.

"No, but I'm sure Fire will harm you. RACHEL RUN!" Finn says and throws the lighter on the Captain.

Rachel makes it out of the door and runs a few metres from the mechanics garage. Suddenly, the whole place becomes engulfed with fire.

"FINN!" Rachel yells and she starts to cry.

"COME ON FINN! GET OUT!" Rachel puts her hands up to her face and starts to bawl.

…

The fire spreads towards a car, suddenly a massive explosion flings Finn back and he collides with a shelf.

Fire is eating the whole garage, Finn coughs at the smoke and his vision starts to get blurry. He can't see the open door anymore and he doesn't even know if Rachel made it out.

Then Finn feels two hands wrap around his neck, he looks up to see the Captain on top of him with fire spreading on his body.

Finn knows this is the end. He is going to die and the last words he said to Rachel was 'run', he didn't even say goodbye…

Then his hand meets a wrench and with no hesitation, Finn smashes the wrench into the Captain's head: over and over again until the Captain falls off him. Finn stands up and hobbles over to the light, he doesn't know if the Captain survived the blows but he doesn't want to stick around to find out.

…

"Finn!" Rachel stands and stares at the garage, she hears a metal object getting smashed into a person. Suddenly she hears a groan and a man crawls out of the garage.

It is Finn! He survived! Finn crawls towards her with his face black from the smoke and hands burnt from the flames.

"I thought I lost you!" Rachel says as she hugs Finn and the ash from his face blackens her clothes. Finn starts to cry and returns the hug.

"Don't scare me again."

"I won't" Finn whispers and stares at the burning garage while he hugs Rachel. "I won't."

Rachel stands up and helps to support Finn. They walk towards the train station and once they get there, the sun is already up. The train comes into a halt and they board it. Rachel cleanses Finn's gash on his head by a bottled water that someone had left behind on the seat. She wipes the sweat, ash and blood from Finn's face and kisses him.

Finn closes his eyes at the soothing feel of the water that minimises the fiery sting of his gash.

"We'll be back home soon." Rachel says and helps Finn apply pressure to his bullet mound.

Finn looks at himself in the mirror in the train and sees that his whole face is caked with blood and injuries. He starts to see sparkling lights: but not the good kind.

They finally arrive in Lima, Ohio and Finn hobbles on until they reach Rachel's house.

"Rachel." Finn gasps and Rachel slows down her pace for her boyfriend.

They get to the front door and walk in the house. Carole, Burt, Kurt, Puck, Wolf and Rachel's dads stand in the lounge room while policemen searches the house.

"LOOK!" Wolf shouts and helps Finn and Rachel in.

"Rachel!" Her dads shout and run over to hug their daughter.

Carole and Burt run to hold Finn.

"My son." Carole says and strokes Finn's face. She starts to cry and embraces Finn in her motherly arms and strokes his matted hair.

"Finn-" Hiram walks over to him "You saved our daughter." Finn looks up and blinks numerous amounts of time. He can't see anything…he can only hear.

"Finn?" Rachel asks and Finn collapses into Burt's arms.

…

Beep…Beep…Beep.

He opens his eyes slowly and sees white.

He isn't dead is he?

Finn's vision starts to become clearer, he turns his head and sees his mom smiling at him.

Finn wants to talk but he chokes on the dryness of his throat and coughs. Carole pours Finn a glass of water and helps him drink.

Finn then realises where he is: he's in the hospital.

"How are you?" Carole asks and touches her son's bruised face

"Sore." Finn says and looks at the tube in his hand. "Is Rachel ok? Is she safe?"

"Yes, she came to visit you earlier today."

"And Burt?"

"He went to Spencerville, apparently his mate's garage went up in flames."

Finn then remembers what happened with the Captain. They were fighting… and he ran into the garage… and he smashed the Captain with a wrench. They went in a train…and he blacked out.

"They found a man's body in there." Carole continues. "He was next to a bloody wrench."

"And what's his condition." Finn asks

"Dead."

Finn's eyes widen with realisation: he had killed the Captain. He killed him! Finn starts to cry, he killed someone!

"Finn." Carole gives Finn a sympathetic look and hugs him. "You had to do it, to save Rachel and yourself."

Finn looks down and sees a large scar from the bullet wound on his waist.

"But if you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

Finn breathes in.

"The bullet in Wolf's leg was a camera, the Captain was watching our every move. He kidnapped Rachel because he knows that I will go after him. All those flashbacks that I had of the Captain wasn't PTSD, it was real…he was actually standing there: watching me."

Carole squeezes Finn's hand and pulls out something from her bag. It was his MOH medal.

"Every hero deserves to wear this." Carole says and ties it on Finn. She stares at Finn's brown eyes and smiles at his boyish face.

"Dad was a hero right? You told me that he saved two people from a burning truck."

"Even though people do great things, sometimes their greatness goes unnoticed."

"Do you believe dad was a hero…I mean even if he died of a drug overdose."

"I don't want to count the last chapters of his life, I want to remember the life he lived."

"But, I see so much of him in you." Carole continues "Even without one in the house you grew up to be a man."

Finn sits up and hugs his mum.

"Thanks mum."

The doctor comes in and smiles at Finn.

"The kid's back in hospital." The Doctor jokes and checks Finn's vitals.

"Yeah, twice in a couple of months." Finn replies.

"I went to talk to the seniors in hospital and everyone's talking about you."

Finn lifts an eyebrow.

"Wait what?"

"All the old lady's are talking about you, they say that you are very handsome and they want you as their son." The doctor smiles at Carole.

"Oh yeah, be careful of the seniors of ward 303. I think they all fancy you." The doctor jokes and walks out of the room.

Carole gets up to buy Finn some breakfast. As she goes out the door, she says something to Finn that he will never forget.

"When you think hope is gone, look inside you because a hero lies in you."

Finn listens to that quote, he remembers the last thing Cillian told him to do and he is going to do it once he's ready.


	18. Back to New York

Tethered from darkness

Finn slowly stands up from his hospital bed: careful not to pop a stitch and puts on his clothes. Finn opens the door and drags his suitcase from the ward. He gets in the lift and looks at his healing face.

Above his eyebrow is a long cut with four steri strips across the wound, Finn touches his black eye and shifts at the contact. Well, he certainly won't win homecoming king if he was back at McKinley.

The lift opens and Finn walks out. He told Burt and Carole not to pick him up from the hospital because he wanted to be alone. Finn walks to a nearby park and hears someone digging dirt.

He leaves his suitcase on the bench and walks towards the sound, Finn sees a man using a shovel and heaving a tree into the empty space. The man turns around and runs a hand through his sweaty mow- hawk.

"Puck?" Finn calls and the man turns around.

"Hudson!" Puck says and runs towards Finn holding a beer bottle. "How are you?" He asks and points to Finn's head.

"Yeah good…good- What are you doing?" Finn asks

"Me? I'm a planting a tree."

"Why?"

"For Cillian- Uh I mean my dad." Puck turns to look at the tree. "I can't afford to pay for a funeral and I don't know where his body is, but I can honour him with a tree, so when kids make out under it: they will know who it was planted for."

Finn looks at the carving that Puck made on the trunk.

'_Cillian.P'_

"He would be proud of you, you know." Finn says

Puck nods his head and hands Finn a bottle.

"C'mon let's go home."

Finn and Puck arrive back at home, Carole, Burt, Kurt and Wolf all surround him to welcome him back home. It seems only yesterday that he just came back from Afghanistan.

Finn sits on the couch with Wolf and Puck and watches the news.

'_Breaking news, Captain Jimal has been found dead in Spencerville, Ohio. The wanted terrorist was inside a burning garage with a smashed skull'_

Finn sits up and increases the volume of the TV-

'_When the police reached the garage, the Captain had already been dead for hours. We don't know who killed Captain Jimal but detectives have found the fingerprints of 'Finn Hudson' on the wrench.'_

Puck and Wolf look at Finn and whistles.

"You-are BADASS!" Puck says and fist bumps Finn. Wolf shakes his head and claps Finn on the shoulder.

"Dude, you're going to be the soldier of the century!"

"Yeah, I don't know about that." Finn runs a hand through his brown hair and leans back on the couch. Whatever people think of him: he's just happy that the Captain is gone. Rachel and him are safe now and there's no need to worry anymore.

Suddenly, the door knocks and Finn opens it to find paparazzis in front of it.

"Mr Hudson!"

"Where did you get that scar?"

"What went down in the garage?"

"How did you know that the Captain was there?"

Finn looks from one paparazzi to another and sees a small girl waving her hand at him. Finn squints and realises the small girl is Rachel.

Finn walks out of the house and grabs Rachel by the hand, he leads her into the house and closes the door.

"They followed me to your house." Rachel says and takes off her coat. "Oh yeah, almost forgot…"

Rachel reaches in her bag and takes out five tickets.

"We're going back to New York today!"

Puck and Wolf bro hugs and Finn kisses Rachel. He can't wait to get back to New York.

…

Finn goes to his room with Rachel to help him pack, she sits on his bed and Finn bends over to fold tshirts, boxers and pants.

"Sorry for the short notice: I wanted to surprise you guys."

"Nah, it's fine. I wanted to go back to New York: everything in Ohio reminds me of- uh- you know."

"Yeah." Rachel agrees and pushes images of the abandoned warehouse from her mind.

"And I can't believe I'm saying this but…I kinda miss Santana."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if Santana would be happy seeing Puck."

Finn laughs "No."

He zips his bag and hooks a lock in it. Finn sits next to Rachel and holds her back. He leans forwards and was about to kiss Rachel-

When the door opens.

"Oh wow… um…Burt says that traffic will get crap and we have to leave now." Wolf blushes when he sees Finn lying with Rachel on the bed.

Finn rubs his face and breathes out.

"Wolf just has to come in now."

He helps Rachel up and carries is bag out the door, at the train station Carole starts to cry.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much!" She says and dabs the corners of her eyes. She kisses Wolf and Puck on the cheek and pulls Rachel into a big hug. Kurt and Burt hugs and steps aside.

Carole walks forwards to Finn and runs her hand down his hair.

"Stay safe this time, I mean it Finn Hudson." Carole jokes and pulls her son into a motherly embrace.

"Love you too mom."

They all board the train: Finn sits next to Rachel and Kurt and Wolf hops down next to Puck.

"This feels like graduation last year." Rachel says and looks away from the window after waving at Carole and Burt.

"Yeah it does, doesn't it?" Finn replies

"But you know what the difference is?"

"What's that?"

"You're with me this time." Rachel wraps her arms around Finn's arms and lays her head on his shoulder. Finn smells Rachel's hair and the corners of his mouth turn into a smile.

…

Kurt knocks on the door and Santana opens it.

"OH MY GOD!" Santana squeals and gives Kurt a hug. She sees Finn and starts to cry when she embraces him.

"Give the man a break Santana, jesus." Puck says and struts in, Santana stops smiling when she sees Puck.

Wolf walks in carrying his luggage and Santana runs to him, she kisses Wolf on his face and pulls back with an embarrassed face. Wolf then drops his luggage and presses his lips against Santana's.

Finn taps Rachel and tells her to look at Wolf, she smiles and lifts her eyebrows at Finn.

"Hey Santana, looking good." Puck calls out

Wolf pulls back and wraps his arms around Santana and points at the door.

"Anyone for pizza?"

…

This is a pretty short update but the last chapter coming up will have Finchel fans very excited. :)


	19. Epilogue

Tethered from darkness

Rachel turns around and feels Finn's side of the bed, she touches the mattress with her eyes closed: desperate to feel Finn's muscular chest and body…but he isn't there.

Rachel opens her eyes and jolts into an upright position.

"Finn?"

Rachel untangles herself from the bed sheets that are sticking to her body and walks to check the bathroom. Rachel turns around to find a single red rose on the bed table with a note.

Rachel frowns and walks towards it, she opens the note and reads it.

'_Brush your teeth and walk to the kitchen.'_

_~F_

Rachel follows the instructions and wears a nice blue dress: before she walks into the kitchen to find another rose and a note.

What's Finn playing at?

She reads the second note.

'_Go downstairs and walk to Sardi's'_

_~F_

Rachel grabs her jacket and holds the second rose in her hand before locking the door and walking outside. Where has everyone gone? She's pretty sure that Wolf, Puck, Santana and Kurt aren't in the apartment. It was super quiet back at the house.

She picks up her phone and dials Finn's number.

'Hey, you have reached the phone of Finn Huds-'

Rachel switches it off and continues her walk to the restaurant, she remembers going to Sardi's with Finn…back when they were in McKinley. It seems such a long time ago: how time flies.

Rachel reaches the restaurant and opens the door, she sits on a chair and sees a picture of her and Finn when they came here last time on the table with another rose. Rachel picks up the note and this time it's an address.

She stands up and makes her way towards the destination. Rachel reaches Bow Bridge and remembers when Finn asked her on a work date and he gave her a bunch of flowers on the bridge.

She knew that it wasn't a 'work date', but she was so stupid: he asked her to be his girlfriend, after their dinner on that day and they were about to kiss…but she ran away.

Rachel stands on the bridge and looks out at the lake, she then feels a tap on her shoulders and sees Kurt and Santana hold her arms and lead her to the park.

Puck and Wolf appear on either sides and gives her another rose, Kurt and Santana take her to a picnic rug with a hamper overflowing with food. Once they reach the rug, Kurt and Santana walk away with Puck and Wolf like nothing happened.

Rachel looks around and blushes, it looks like she is eating a very large picnic by herself-

Somebody kisses her cheek, she turns her head to see that it's Finn: dressed in a tuxedo.

"Wow, look at you!" Rachel says and runs her hand down his tie. "What's the occasion?"

"What? A guy can't dress up to date his girlfriend?" Finn smiles and sits next to Rachel. He opens the hamper and gives Rachel a plate of fruit and juice.

She looks at him and lifts one eyebrow.

"What?" He side smiles at her and chews on a piece of strawberry.

"What's with the notes and the roses?"

Finn looks up and licks his bottom lip, suddenly a loud music plays in the park and the people surrounding them comes to the centre and dances. Finn fixes his tie and stands in front of them.

**It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do, hey baby: I think I wanna marry you.**

Finn starts to dance and Rachel laughs at his unique groove, her boyfriend is so adorable!

**Is it the look in your eyes or is it this dancing juice? Who cares baby I think I wanna marry you.**

Finn does a turn and takes Rachel's hand and starts dancing with her. Rachel blushes and does a turn.

**Just say I do, tell me right now baby, tell me right now baby baby. Is it the look in your eyes or is it this dancing juice, who cares baby I think I wanna marry you.**

The music stops and everyone surrounds Finn and Rachel in a circle.

"Finn, what's going on?"

"Rachel."

She looks up at Finn

"You mean more then the sun and the moon to me, you are everything Rachel and you are the most beautiful and amazing girl that I ever laid eyes upon. You make me believe that dreams come true and that anything is possible.

You make me feel that I am in heaven every single day of my life, I will always be your knight in shining armour and I will protect you every step of the way.

But the thing is that you do it for me too, when I was in trouble: you protected me and cared for me. I will cherish you and remember you forever for whatever life throws at us. It's you and I against the world baby."

"Oh my god." Rachel looks at Finn and clasps her fingers together. Finn gets down on one knee and pulls out a white ring box.

"Rachel, will you marry me?"

Rachel starts to cry and presses her lips against Finn and pulls him close.

"Is that a yes?" Finn pulls away and double checks.

"Absolutely!" Rachel embraces Finn and puts all her might in the hug, she leans too far forward and falls on top of Finn. But he doesn't care, Finn smothers Rachel's face with kisses and ignores the people looking at him and Rachel: on the ground kissing.

Rachel sits up and stares at Finn's beautiful eyes.

"I love you so much." Rachel says and pulls her husband into a hug, the people surrounding them starts to clap.

"So what now? Rachel laughs and strokes Finn's hair back.

"I will spend every day of my life loving you."


End file.
